


Across the Multiverse

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All the Voltron iterations, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beast King GoLion - Freeform, Eventual Happy Ending, Fix-It of Sorts, Heavy Angst, Hiding Medical Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Murder, Pining, Sad and Happy, Sad with a Happy Ending, Soulmates, Soulmates across multiple lifetimes, Temporary Character Death, Terminal Illnesses, Trans Keith (Voltron), Trans Male Character, Voltron (Dynamite comics), Voltron: DDP comics, Voltron: Defender of the Universe - Freeform, Voltron: The Third Dimension - Freeform, voltron force - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 17:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19322926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: Akira Kogane and Takashi Shirogane are soulmates whose story together ended after Takashi died. But when Akira sought the Space Goddess, he was met with coldness instead of warmth and mercy, and now doomed to live every lifetime alone, Akira, now Keith, must try to win back his soulmate (Takashi, Sven, Shiro) before he ceases to exist out of all reality.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Sheith Prompt Bang! This was such a joy to write, especially as a fan of all Voltron iterations who took the prompt of “doomed soulmate cycle” and decided to have Shiro and Keith go through ALL the lifetimes. Trying to pinpoint the Sheith in every lifetime kinda broke my brain, but it was fun! 
> 
> You don’t have to know the other Voltron iterations to follow this story. I'll indicate which lifetime is which. 
> 
> All of my love and thanks to Ni ([Genesister](https://archiveofourown.org/users/papirini/pseuds/Genesister)) for beta reading this! <3

His skin grew more pallor by the second, the color broken by droplets of cold sweat. His hands wrapped about around a shaking hand between them, held them tight in reassurance. Though pain and death rippled through the weakening body that lay on the bed, he looked up at the person he loved most, the person he had only just married, and offered the fondest smile.

“I do not regret what I have done,” Keith said softly. “I would rather it was me this time.”

“ _No_ ,” Shiro gasped, eyes wet with tears. “Why, Keith?” 

“You deserved a chance for once. _We_ deserved a chance. Everything I have done up until this moment, it was for you, for us, to fix the many mistakes we have made in our lives. You have no idea how hard I strived to make this happen—how many lifetimes I went through to see this play out. I just wanted to be yours again. 

“Live well, Takashi. I love you.”

###### The beginning: Go! Go! GoLion!

“Chief, is there anything you need from us or the Princess?” 

Akira gave a brief motion of his hand, sending them off. The others shared a look before existing the chamber, but not before looking back. Since returning from the battle with Honerva, Akira had been awfully silent, as quiet as Takashi himself used to be. 

“Come on, give them space,” Tsuyoshi said. 

Isamu would have pointed out that there was hardly any “them” left, but his usual wit had left him, shellshocked as much as Akira had been at seeing their mutual friend Takashi die before their eyes. Instead tears ran down his eyes; a hand went up around Hiroshi’s shoulder, comforting him as they made their way down the corridor. He cursed the witch, all of Planet Doom, and the entire Galra empire. 

Back inside the bedroom, Akira continued the bathing ceremony of the body of his beloved. 

“I’ll never forget the day we met.” His soft voice cracked with grief. “It was all because of Hot-Head and Shorty goofing off. They were playing a prank on Moody. It’s how they became friends. And then we became friends with them; remember that? We met through them. While our commanding officer was discipling them and yelling, we sat back and spoke. A connection instantly sparked between us. I felt as though I knew you all my life.” 

Pausing, Akira wiped a tear from his face. He smiled down at Takashi and caressed his cheek, remembering the many times he had kissed them. 

“We became inseparable since. And those three goofballs were always around too. I don’t remember how we even became friends—you and me with them. It just sort of happened! Getting to know you meant knowing them too! We were such an unusual group!” He chuckled lightly. “But we did missions together, and somehow…we fit together. We were a unit. Cut off one and the rest of us would tumble. We needed everyone. 

“They’re our friends, and we love them. But you, Takashi…we loved each other differently.” 

His grip on the towel tightened as he tried in vain to keep the tears from falling. But the battle was soon lost; Takashi blurred in the vision of tears, and Akira threw his head down, squeezing the rag and breathing heavily through his teeth as rage and grief gripped him. 

_“Why did you leave me, Takashi?!”_

⁂

“Akira, I wish to speak with you privately.”

Akira gave a little smile. Normally it was for arguments or discipline, but when it was Takashi who requested his sole presence, it was for something else entirely. Though they had seemingly mastered the ability to communicate through just looks alone—useful with the very loud companions they had with them—having some designated time alone also had its uses. 

“What is this concerning?” Akira asked after closing the door. 

Takashi walked around his desk and picked something tiny from it. “Akira…we will be heading on a mission to space very soon. I’m not certain if we will have time while we are up there, with the three with us, and I just wanted to—”

“Stop!” Akira gripped his wrists before he could utter another word. His heart nearly pounded right out of his chest—the excitement nearly choked him, but…he couldn’t. Not now. He wanted nothing more than for this to happen, but…not here. The moment would be so special, but… 

“You’re always so quiet! You’ll find a way on that shuttle. Tell me then.” 

His wink and knowing smile, beautiful and seductive with that hint of coyness, flustered the normally cool and collected Takashi. But he pocketed the…thing—Akira swore he didn’t know what it was—and obeyed his wishes.

And indeed, one month later while up deep in space, while Akira was lost in thought, admiring the vast beauty of the cosmos, an arm coiled around him, and in the palm sat an open little plush box. Light from the stars glittered on the surface of the golden ring and on the tiny rim of diamonds, three in a row like the belt of Orion. 

“A ring as shiny as the stars themselves, for the most wonderful creation in the universe,” Takashi spoke into his ear. 

Akira gripped his other arm as it wrapped around his middle. 

“Will you—”

Akira gasped. “Yes!”

⁂

“Will you be needing any help?”

Akira jumped, startled and red-eyed, and looked about. 

“Raible! I—sorry. I’m taking too long.” 

“Oh, no,” Raible assured him as he sat on the other side of him, “I just wished to check in on you. But if you would like some help…”

Eventually, Akira gave in, realizing it would be best to have someone help him part with the body of his lover. 

“He’s not in there. Takashi’s not in there any more,” he kept telling himself. Yet each time he looked upon his face…maybe Raible’s presence could knock more sense back into him. 

Working with Raible was preferable than the others, who were likely to think that conversation would be a comfort to Akira. He did not need it in this moment. He needed to focus on preparing Takashi’s coffin for the burial. He needed to make sure his beloved was as comfortable as possible. He needed to caress Takashi’s face one last time, wipe his own tear that had fallen on Takashi’s cheek, whisper a final private farewell as Raible gave him a respectful distance. 

Raible had gathered a beautiful assortment of flowers for them to place around Takashi. They worked together in comfortable silence; when they were done, Akira thanked him sincerely. 

He observed his lover, nodding at the work done well. He was ready, and yet…

“I can’t do this!” 

Akira threw himself over the body and wept. Raible approached cautiously and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We were engaged.”

“Oh?” Raible’s voice hitched in surprise and sympathy. 

Akira nodded and raised his hand, showing him the beautiful ring that still glimmered with the three tiny diamonds. 

“I had told him not to give me the ring until we were in space. I wanted it to be special. But now he’s gone…we could have been married by the time we were in space. We were so much in love, and…” 

“I’m so sorry, Kogane. I had no idea.” 

“I don’t think the others knew,” Akira said. “Takashi was always a private person, and I wasn’t ready to run my mouth off to everyone about everything that we did. Oh, but I loved him so much!” 

Raible nodded. “My sympathies, Kogane. I too have buried a wife and son due to the Galra’s atrocity. It’s not a pain that can quickly be alleviated.” 

Akira straightened his back, his eyes going from the ring to Takashi. “I’m going to keep wearing this ring until the day I die.”

Behind him, unbeknown to him, Raible frowned. “You will not love again?” 

Akira chuckled. “Of course not. Takashi is all I ever wanted or needed.” 

Raible gave another nod and said no more. “Very well.” 

Not thinking much of his words, Akira continued to caress his lover’s face. Takashi was in a better place, he told himself. And they’ll see each other again some day.

Takashi looked peaceful.

⁂

The jeers from the Galra rang throughout the arena. Scattered like leaves in the wind and feeling equally as vulnerable, the five space travelers faced five large Beastmen. The creatures were more beast than man, commanded to do one thing only: kill them for the sake of entertainment.

The space travelers were painfully aware that some of the Galra, especially those wearing frilly collars and pearls around their wrists, had placed bets upon their survival. None must have thought they would make it. Humans were tiny, their skin too soft against the rough and taut texture of Beastmen hide. Surely they would be torn apart. And yet they had come out the underdogs time and time again. 

Tsuyoshi had gotten terribly beaten. His arms and back bore deep claw marks, but it didn’t deter him from charging like a tank towards any Beastman who tried to stomp down on Hiroshi. They had skim choosing for weapons they could use at their disposal. Tossed around like an afterthought, laughter followed them as they ran after a sword or laser gun, most of which had little firepower. Half of the swords had been cleaved in half. 

But they prevailed. Working as a team, unified as if one being, one mind split into five bodies, they defeated rounds of opponents until the smirking Galra took note of the tiny underdogs. 

That was when each had earned his nickname. Akira became Chief for everyone would defer to him for battle strategy. Takashi was Quiet, a silent killer who was expert at attacking his enemy unawares. Isamu, always a _moody_ person, would grow more violent the worse the beating he received. Tsuyoshi became _hot-head_ ed from the way he’d simply charge into battle like a raging bull. And Hiroshi, obviously the smallest, was nicknamed Shorty not as an insult, but because he could also move so swiftly that no Beastman could keep up with him until he landed the final blow. 

Though they won battles, they could not count each victory as something to celebrate. More would come. They didn’t even know why they kept fighting. They had no home to go back to. Earth had been destroyed by the World War. And yet something about that, something about the thought of being the last humans alive made them stick together. If the human race was to make their final stand, they would be sure to give the Galra everything they got. 

But deep in the night, while the guards were on patrol and there was no concern for them being suddenly tossed into battle, Akira and Takashi stayed a little further apart from the rest of their crew, arms around one another and trying not to think if tonight would be the final night they got to spend together. 

The audience found them amusing to watch, and no matter how often they bet on them to win, equally would they bet on them to lose (“Ten that the hot-head remains standing; the leader is the first to go. They always take out the head.”) The vultures outside awaited for their bones to pick. The very thought of the audience jeers and the hungry vultures’ glares kept them going. 

Takashi nearly didn’t make it during one battle. Both Akira and Takashi were in dire state. The Beastmen had been fortified with the slain remains of previous fights while the space explorers had been starved, just to see how far until their wills broke. Takashi had been cornered by two Beastmen when Akira attacked from the back. They turned their aggression on him, and soon he had found himself under their giant clawed feet.

“No!” 

Akira heard Takashi’s sword sing as he slashed the backs of the giant fiends. 

A bloodied arm reached for him, but not before an enraged Beastman threw his fist down heavily against Takashi’s back. Akira could hear the bones cracking even with the audience laughing and chattering. 

Gasping, he fell forward but recovered in moments just as the fist flew down again. He grabbed Akira’s wrist and shifted him so that he was right underneath Takashi, shielded by the Beastman. 

“What are you doing?” Akira demanded. “They’re going to kill you!” 

Takashi chuckled weakly even as a line of blood dribbled down the side of his mouth. “I got you, love!” 

A spiked fist appeared above Takashi’s right shoulder, grazing the skin. Blood pooled as he hissed. 

“Get off me!” Akira begged.

“No!” Takashi gasped.”I…I will never give up on you! You’re going to make it, all right?” 

Sucking in a breath, he swung back and plunged his sword between the eyes of the Beastman, killing him instantly. 

“Akira!” 

Akira’s eyes fluttered open. The flurry of the arena vanished to a dark tranquil bedroom, broken only by blue light from the Altean moon. Moments later, the memory of the funeral earlier swept through him and Akira squeezed his pillow as tears ran down his face. 

_I will never give up on you._

_But I gave up on you_ , Akira thought. _I watched you die in my arms! I was helpless to help you! How could I have let that happen!_

He beat his fist against the bed. _This was all the Galra’s doing! Emperor Daibazaal! Damn him! Damn them! Damn the witch Honerva!_

_Son of a bitch!_

He sat up after hearing a skittish. The faint hope that it was Takashi’s own spirit coming to see him faded when he saw the four little mice that the princess loved. They must have been sleeping around the plant on the window sill. Perhaps the princess herself had sent them to keep an eye on him; she must have been worried for his well-being. Who wasn’t? He hasn’t been eating. How could he, when his hands smelled of the dirt he had covered his fiancé in? 

“I’ll be fine,” he told the mice. “Grief is a natural part after someone you love dies. I’ll get through it.” 

Platt gave a few tiny squeaks before scuttling off along with his family. Akira sighed and waited for the mice to leave. 

Assured he was alone, he pulled from under the pillow the tiny plush box which had contained the engagement ring. He still wore his, but he wanted to keep the box. He wanted to keep close anything Takashi ever bought for him. The Altean Moon’s silvery light reflected off the three diamonds, still as beautiful as the day Takashi presented the ring to him, and his heart clenched in painful memory of the first time he had seen it. 

“I’m never giving up on you,” Akira vowed. “I’m never giving up on your memory.”

⁂

“Hey,“ Isamu said softly by way of greeting.

Akira raised a hand in reply. “Something on your mind?” 

“I thought I would find you here,” Isamu said without humor. A year and a half had passed since the funeral, but Akira could still be found visiting Takashi’s grave from time to time. Sometimes the others joined him, especially on the anniversary of Takashi’s death, but mostly Akira had come alone. And he preferred going alone. 

“I…I’ll be fine,” he insisted. 

“It’s not you,” Isamu said and sighed. “It’s…the princess.” 

Akira’s eyebrows furrowed. “What about her?” 

Isamu sighed again. “Haven’t noticed? She has eyes for you.” 

Akira froze before his beloved’s grave. He had sensed as much. Princess Fala was young, and eager to join in the fight to protect her world. He mostly took her attention to him as the admiration towards a senior officer. He was a better pilot than her; she needed his guidance, and truthfully, he was the most forgiving and patient to her out of the others. 

He had wanted her to improve, of course. He had even wanted her to surpass Takashi in skill. Perhaps it could fill the void left by Takashi; it could make his loss more bearable. 

“I do not feel the same,” Akira said. “You know where my heart lies, Moody. Haven’t you both grown closer as friends after...” 

“After I sought the flowers for her?” Isamu said. “Yeah, you can say that. But she seems to think she has a chance with you.” 

Akira chuckled. “I have already chosen mine. Even if he’s passed from this world, he is still mine.”

He pulled out the small plush box and showed it to Isamu, who frowned. Akira had since retold the story of how Takashi had asked him to marry him in the space shuttle; Isamu and the others were still coming to terms with how _that_ had transpired without them noticing. 

“You could have had us celebrate your engagement!” Tsuyoshi had complained. Akira had tried to laugh it at first, but in truth his words had only filled him with guilt. Takashi deserved that much. 

“I’m so sorry,” Isamu said and sank on his knees next to Akira. 

“I’ll speak with her, Moody. But don’t let your own interests cloud your judgement. If she doesn’t feel the same way…”

“I know,” Isamu said, chuckling. “She’s still young, and I won’t impose myself on her if she’s not interested. I just…” He sighed heavily. 

He didn’t have to say it; Akira understood.

_They would go well together_ , he thought.

⁂

“You knew he died?” Akira asked, studying the other man. It had been like greeting a ghost, although the man was slightly shorter than Takashi, and his face a little slimmer, and his hair a little longer, and when he spoke, the manner in which he moved, though resemblance to Takashi were still there, the illusion of being Takashi was further dispelled.

Somehow, miraculously, Ryou Shirogane had survived the World War, only to be taken as prisoner by the Galra when they had invaded Earth. Though that was to be counted as lucky, as Earth was later destroyed. Akira smiled sadly; if only Takashi knew; while still prisoners, Takashi had spoken to Akira his grief at the thought of losing his brother. Akira had comforted Takashi as he recalled the few times he had met him back on Earth. 

Now Ryou nodded as he studied his older brother’s grave. “I had visions of him while I was held captive. It kept me going.” 

“You saw him…” The small smile disappeared. Sometimes…he thought someone else was in the room with him, sometimes in the same bed. He would just barely open his eyes when the figure before him would disappear. He always hoped it was Takashi there just a split moment before. 

But why didn’t Takashi stick around longer to see him? Didn’t he realize just how much Akira’s heart bled for him?

⁂

Honerva.

Akira’s blood boiled each time by the mere mention of her name. She was the reason Takashi died. Each time they ran into her, Akira felt a siren go off in the back of his head, fire burning in his chest, ready to kill her for taking away his Takashi, his love. There had been times when Akira was barely holding on to the edges of his sanity because of Honerva’s tactics; when they had all thought Princess Fala had died, memories of Takashi’s death had hit him back with such full force that Akira had run out of Castle Gradam and cried into the night. 

His heart ached; she was so innocent. He knew the feelings she had for him, but he could never return them beyond that of a friend and mentor. And yet—to see her pale and to hear the declaration of her passing, had brought him back to the village, watching the love of his life die in his arms and unable to do anything, feeling Takashi’s body turn cold and knowing he had lost him forever. 

Falling to his knees, Akira pounded his fist against the stone of the bridge, cursing Sincline, the witch Honerva, Emperor Daibazaal, and all of the empire. 

In the end, it was not by his hand that Honerva died. From the reports they later gathered, Sincline had slain her, who was later slain by Ryou. Akira couldn’t hide the disappointment from the others; he had wanted to get his revenge. 

But in the end he had lost even the last of his connection to Takashi. 

Ryou too died; locked in a fight with Sincline, they had both fallen to their deaths. Princess Amue, who Ryou had only just begun to grow a relationship with, had to witness his death. She had wept continually throughout the funeral; watching her grieve was like peering at a mirror. 

Akira only knew little of the suffering she had endured under Sincline’s claws, but it was enough to crush his heart into dust. Before she parted with Alor back to Planet Hercules, Akira tried to speak with her, as one heartbroken lover to another in an act of commiseration. It had helped, if a little. He knew all too well that grief could take years, but he did not wish to see another crushed by it. One person suffering was enough.

⁂

Years passed. Akira had eventually told the full story of the ring to Princess Fala and explained his relationship with Takashi to her. She had seemed confused, then crushed, a young innocent woman who must have lived under a dream of marrying the leader of GoLion. But in time, she understood. Her gaze instead began to stray towards Isamu, who did not push but let her take the lead as she found comfortable. That was good.

In that time, Tsuyoshi and Hiroshi also became closer, bonding over their jokes and their love for technology. 

Watching the two pairs—Isamu and Fala, Tsuyoshi and Hiroshi—should have made Akira happy. Altea and the universe was finally at peace. There were no more wars, no more need for GoLion nor the need to fight. 

But it wasn’t right. Akira was happy for all of his friends. But he too deserved happiness. Takashi and his brother should have been there with them. 

Akira placed a shaking hand over his heart. It had been five years since Sincline was defeated. Seven years since Takashi died. He had grown weak and thin since then, letting grief stop him from eating or sleeping properly. He refused any medical treatment. What could they do to help him forget Takashi? He didn’t _want_ to forget Takashi. 

His rage over Honerva had kept him alive, gave him a goal, some way to honor Takashi, but now there was only emptiness. 

How could he go on without Takashi? 

He held on until a week after the wedding of Princess Fala, now Queen Fala, and Isamu’s wedding. 

He snuck out one night. The grass felt warm against his bare feet; the stars glimmered high overhead, and for a moment he was reminded of a different time, long ago, one arm around him and a ring presented to him. 

He carried on. 

The mighty robot loomed overhead. No longer split into the five lions, it stood as the mighty giant robot, no longer in use but erected as a monument for the rest of time. Akira’s hand swept over the Blue Lion, feeling the cool metal under his fingers. He closed his eyes and imagined his beloved sitting in the cockpit, pictured him flying across the skies, his mastery of the lion unmatched by the other pilots, even Akira with the Black Lion. 

He slipped in Blue, recalling the rare couple times he had sat here while Princess Fala had taken over the Black Lion. Akira closed his eyes. Takashi’s scent wasn’t on the dashboard. There was nothing romantic about this, and yet…it was like his presence still remained. Trying to fly the lion while knowing who had piloted it just hurt, hurt so much that it had taken all his willpower to keep impassive and support Princess Fala in her pilot training. 

He left the lion with a terrible tremor in his hands he could not still and made for the Black Lion. Inside the seat wrapped about him comfortably, familiar. 

Everything felt cold. 

Pressing his hands together, Akira prayed. This would be the first time he would ever attempt something like this. Would GoLion even respond to just one pilot? 

“ _Please_ ,” he begged before gripping the yoke and concentrated all his mind and spirit into the giant robot. He felt the machine shift and move and then, finally, the ground shook far beneath him before the robot took off into the sky.

⁂

“Huh?” Isamu raised his head from the bed he shared with Fala. He peered out the window, but the flash that had woken him was already gone, and all the window showed from his vantage point was a clear sky adorned with stars.

It would not be until well into the next day before any of the team would find GoLion gone as well as the man who had taken it.

⁂

Akira rode far through the cosmos, recalling the time the pilots had glimpsed the Space Goddess. It had been while they were pinned on the surface of the Space Wolf, a dangerous planetoid with a powerful gravity. Had it not been for that divine intervention, none of them—not any of the pilots, nor GoLion, and nor all of Altea—would have survived.

But now Akira sought the Space Goddess once more, but for an entirely different reason. He prayed as he flied, deeper and deeper into the cosmos, until the cloudy cosmos drew into pure pitch black and all the light of the stars extinguished, engulfed by the matter surrounding him. 

“Space Goddess,” Akira begged, shrouded in shadows. “Space Goddess, do you hear me?” 

Small foggy clouds formed before his mouth upon exhale; he hadn’t realized how cold it had gotten in here. A shiver ran as he waited. 

“Space Goddess?” 

As hope began to dwindle—perhaps coming here wasn’t such a good idea, that perhaps he could never reach the Goddess, and he was now trapped many millions of light years away from the only home he had left after Earth’s destruction (at least Takashi was buried in Altea; he could still visit him there)—suddenly, rays of light splashed down on him. 

A voice, twinged of coldness, carried over high above. 

_“Why have you come seeking me?”_

“Space Goddess!” Akira gasped as his eyes began to adjusted, seeing the vague lines of Her form. She could understand. She had helped them during the most dire moment of their lives. His heart leapt and his eyes teemed with tears. “I have sought you because I cannot go any longer without my fiancé Takashi Shirogane.” 

He bowed his head. 

_“You disgust me,”_ the Space Goddess eventually spoke. _“I have given you a second chance at life when I had no reason to step in, and this is how you choose to honor my gift?”_

“I…it is not that!” Akira fumbled. “We do not take your mercy for granted! You have saved so many with your mercy and intervention! But my heart weeps for someone very dear to me! Ever since he died in my arms I have had trouble sleeping! I would feel him in the bed beside me, could feel his breath on my cheek, could almost feel the sweep of his fingers against my lips, but every time I open my eyes, he’s not there!

“It’s gotten worse! I cannot eat! I cannot think of anything else but how much I miss him!” 

_“That is because he is your soulmate.”_

She dropped the statement matter-of-factly, as if such news was something Akira could handle at this moment, crazed as he was. He became silent for a moment, mulling over the thought. 

“I suppose he is…” he eventually said. “I have never loved anyone like him. I can feel him with me at every step.” 

_“You will meet him again in the next life,”_ the Space Goddess explained coldly. _“And in the life after that, and in the life after that. That is the nature of soulmates: you travel together between lives, and in each lifetime you meet again. That is your destiny.”_

Akira placed both hands on his heart. The thought of seeing Takashi, again and again, filled him with both hope and pain. He wanted no one more than him. The thought that this wasn’t the end, that this would not the final time he would see Takashi, should have brought some peace into his troubled mind and heart. And yet…

“It hurt so much to have lost him,” he said. “It hurts so much not to have him beside me. Celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, go day by day and not have him next to me. Knowing what we are to one another only contextualizes the pain even more. I really do feel I have been sawn in half; ever since I’ve lost him I haven’t felt the same! Soulmates shouldn’t be split apart. 

“Space Goddess…I am…dying. I have not taken care of myself. My grief is leading me to my grave. I came out here to beg you. You’ve given us one miracle. I beg for another miracle from you. Please give me back Takashi.”

_“And what of Ryou?”_

Akira flinched. Princess Amue had been just as crushed; of course, he was being selfish. He hadn’t seen her recently and didn’t know how Princess Amue was taking the news, but Takashi deserved family with him. He was about to correct himself when the Space Goddess continued. 

_“What of Raiza and Roland? Does Raible not also deserve his family back? And what of Princess Amue’s older brother Samson? What of the countless lives lost in the war? What makes Takashi Shirogane so special? Ryou, Raiza, Samson…they were important to others too. They also were someone else’s soulmates.”_

All argument left Akira. His heart plummeted. How could he make Her see? “But…Takashi…how can I go long without Takashi?”

_“Live your life, and you will see him again after your passing. You will walk in the space between worlds until you are reborn. When you are born into that new life, you will meet again. The cycle repeats forever. Let him go in this lifetime. His time in this world long passed. In my eyes, it will not be long before you meet again. Happiness will be achieved again, and again. Forever.”_

_Forever._ For a moment Akira wondered of their past lives; had it always ended in tragedy? Somehow, he sensed it hadn’t been so. Seeing him, speaking with him, kissing him…Takashi had always made him so happy. 

“I…can’t.” The words came out weak and pitiful, but he didn’t care. This was how his heart felt. He dared to peer right into the Space Goddess’s eyes. “I will not go back to Altea. My mission as the pilot of the Black Lion, leader of GoLion, and liberator of the universe from Galra rule are all over. There is nothing left for me. I would rather return to Takashi.” 

Her eyes flared dangerously. _“Then you have insulted Me by tossing back the life I have given to you!”_

Akira winced and lowered his head, pressing his hands together in prayer. “Forgive me! Have mercy! My heart is breaking more by the moment! Surely you can understand my pain of being apart from my soulmate! Will you not have mercy on that?” 

The tension around him did not abate as the seconds ticked by. But he kept his eyes steady on the Goddess. Surely, surely…as the being who had seen so many lifetimes, understood himself and Takashi more intimately than they understood themselves, _surely_ She would understand his plea? Just this once? 

_“You doom yourself and Takashi and every single version of yourselves, in every lifetime, in every reality,”_ the Space Goddess said.

“Every reality?” 

Her eyes narrowed, the light within like two sharp glimmers in the vastness of space. _“Existence is more than just this universe. This universe was born after the old universe collapsed and died, and a new universe will blossom after this one has grown old and shrivels up; that is the way it has always been, for all of time, and each universe we call a lifetime. But as one universe exists, so do many more, blooming or dying, sometimes in sync with another reality and sometimes not. The number of realities, just as the number of lifetimes, run infinite. Only my own Eyes can perceive them all at once._

_“You and Takashi have been eternal, in this strand of reality and in all the others, up until this point for your own hastiness.”_

Akira winced. “Then perhaps I should go back on my word?”

_“You are already doomed. You will find yourself facing hardships in every lifetime. You will no longer walk each period between lives with him. I will take that away from you. You must earn him back.”_

“What do you mean?” Akira asked. “Are you going to dissolve our bond?” 

_“No. The bond of soulmates is that which is forever and a force and knowledge which has forever eluded even me. But I can throw obstacles between you. I can keep you from being together. The chances of you finding happiness will become close to impossible.”_

“So you’ve given me a challenge?” Akira asked. “You’re punishing me for grieving? You’re going to hurt us in every reality just because _I’m_ hurting!” 

The Space Goddess did not respond to his words, but Akira knew that were Her intentions. He wished he could make Her see. Was She not the Goddess? Should She not be full of mercy? His heart clenched at the thought of what he was about to do. 

Perhaps he was being selfish. How many more years until he met his fate? How many more until patience yielded his reward and he would be with Takashi again? 

But, then, what of his shattered heart? 

Before he could speak, change his mind and place a doom over himself, Takashi, and all their selves across all realities, the Space Goddess once more spoke. 

_“Very well. I do perceive you are close to your death. You do not see it yourself, because your spirit has long left the physical realm. Your heart stills. The doom is taking its course.”_

Akira gasped. _When had this happened?_

The Goddess’s smile sent shivers down his spine. He hadn’t had time to say his farewell to the others—How? When did he die? How did he die? 

_“You will sleep now, Akira Kogane. And when you wake up, you will have become reborn in your new life. You may remember it, for you are now on a quest. In some lifetimes it may be instantaneous; in others it may take years. But your love for Takashi Shirogane will always haunt you and pave your every turn. Win back your soulmate, for he’s become confused and veiled; he will not remember you; his heart will not recognize you. Do this, make him remember you, and all of the realities and timelines will fix itself. Your bond will be reforged and made all the stronger. You will fix your futures and the futures of all your alternate selves.”_

Akira nodded. “Thank you, Space Goddess. Give me three tries, at the most! I will get Takashi! Our love is strong! I have faith in us!” He could not stop this from happening, but he could fix it. The other Akiras and Takashis in all realities depended on them! 

The Space Goddess scowled before speaking once more, colder and more dangerously than ever before. _“I will give you nine, for it is a divine number. Lose him nine more times and you are nulled forever.”_

Then She lifted her hand, and Akira gripped for the yoke only to realize nothing was around him—where was GoLion? As the light engulfed him, his final thought was of Takashi, and he begged for his forgiveness. 

_I won’t be walking with you between this life and the next. Forgive me, Takashi._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a very brief instance of (internalized) homophobia during the Fourth and Sixth Chance. 
> 
> The lifetimes follow these iterations:  
> • Second Chance: Defender of the Universe show [1984]  
> • Third Chance: The Third Dimension [1998]  
> • Fourth Chance: Defender of the Universe (Devil’s Due publishing comics) [2003]  
> • Fifth Chance: Voltron Force [2011]  
> • Sixth Chance: Voltron (Dynamite Comics) [2011]  
> • Seventh Chance: Robotech/Voltron comic [2013]  
> • Eighth Chance: Voltron: From the Ashes comic [2016]

###### Second Chance: Let’s Go, Voltron Force!

_I’m scared._

Keith’s little heart thumped in his chest. The forest stretched endlessly, black and foreboding. His mother had warned against playing near the forest, but he didn’t listen. And now when his ball had rolled inside the long stretch of scary-looking trees, he had found himself lost while looking for his ball. He should have just asked his father or mother, or the mean older kid in the park, to look for the ball. The mean kid would have laughed at him for being scared, but he was bigger, and monsters would be scared of him. Even if he did end up getting eaten, that was no loss to Keith.

The toy was long forgotten after a time, as Keith’s mind turned to the simple matter of surviving. Monsters sneered at him from every relief of black branches high above in the trees. Rustles in the bushes, or hisses rippling through the tree branches would send shivers up his spine. 

Taking a few tentative steps in desperate search for some light, he came upon a large log—or what he thought was a log. It shifted the moment he placed his hand on it and turned its many beady eyes on him. Keith screamed, unable to look away at the many glossy black eyes leered at him, and took several steps back. He hit against something, and then felt two long wet things like thick tongues sweep over his back.

With a sharp gasp he spun around then cried out at the large vivid frog with the two tongues oozing its way towards him. 

He hastened on his feet, but immediately he slipped in the mud and fell into a swampy lake. Filthy water filled his nostrils and he flailed and screamed in desperation until something warm gripped his wrist and a tug pulled him out of the lake. 

Huffing, he lay on his knees, eyes red with tears. 

“Okay, kid?” 

The voice was that of a boy’s, marked with an accent of some kind. Keith looked up. A boy about his age was sitting up on the log—just a log; the log monster and the frog with the two tongues were nowhere to be found. 

“There’s monsters here,” Keith said and waved his arms. Now he had to save himself and the boy! 

“There’s monsters everywhere,” the boy said sagely. “You should see the ones in Norway. Elves live in the mountains! Not like the nice ones in English fairy tales. I’ve never seen one myself, but Godmor had all the stories to scare me with so I wouldn’t play at the seas after dark. I never went out to see them for myself!” 

_I’m never going to Norway_ , was Keith’s thought, followed by, _how brave is this kid for wanting to see Norwegian elves!_

“Did you scare off the monsters?” he asked and looked about himself. So far no one else had come to hurt them, and suspicions began to grow. 

The boy beamed. “Ja! I’m used to monsters!” 

“Thank you,” Keith said and bowed. The boy laughed. 

“No need for that! We’re friends!” 

“Friends?” Keith never had a friend before. They had only just met, but the boy did just save his life, and Keith was eternally grateful. Smiling, he thought of the good news he was going to tell his mother and father, except…where were they? His face crumbled as he looked about himself again, and his lower lip quivered with the threat of new tears about to fall.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” the boy asked. 

“I don’t know where my parents are,” Keith said. “They told me not to go into the forest.” 

“They might be having a picnic near mine,” the boy said. “I know the way out. I’m familiar with the outdoors. Here.” 

The boy hopped off the log and offered his hand. He smiled so warmly it was as if sunlight had lit the forest. “I’m Sven, by the way!” 

“Keith!” Keith said and took Sven’s hand. Instantly a feeling arose deep in his chest, a warmth and something familiar. He looked into Sven’s eyes—he wasn’t a monster, no. That wasn’t the feeling. It was familiar, as if he had known Sven his entire life. 

But Keith was very small and he hardly knew anyone. 

_Like my favorite teddy bear?_ Keith wondered. 

Sven smiled and led the way, and Keith huddled close to Sven for protection away from any monster, lurking in the shadows. 

By the time they reached the mouth of the forest, Keith thought of another word that the softness of Sven’s hand and warmth in his eyes reminded him of: Home.

⁂

At some point Keith remembered. It must have happened the first night they slept in their new dorms of the Galaxy Garrison. The placement of the beds, shape of the window and the scene outside it; it had all hit him: he had lived this moment before.

Except last time he hadn’t been with Sven, or should he say…Takashi. That was his name then. Then all the memories of his past life returned, as had the Space Goddess’s words to him, and when he awoke, Keith’s heart was thumping. 

He had to make Sven remember their love. 

He told his dream to Sven with hopes of it rekindling any sort of memory, but Sven showed no sign of recognizing their old dorm, nor of having loved Keith romantically before. He spoke of having a dream of being proposed to while up in space, and Sven smiled. 

“I’m sure you’ll find an amazing wife some day, Keith!” 

Keith frowned. Well, their lives thus far had been a little bit different, he supposed. Maybe this was a challenge from the Space Goddess, for Sven to not remember. Maybe one of the other guys, their fellow space travelers, will make him. 

But even the story of those three goofy friends went differently. Shorty wasn’t in class with them; it would not be until their second year when their fifth companion would arrive from the planet Terra with his brother Chip. Moody, or Lance as Keith had learned his name, was also from another world, and this time he was a bit of a jokester on a peer named Cliff. 

Hunk, or Hot-Head as Keith used to know him, most enjoyed martial arts classes with a peer named Rocky, with whom they shared many similarities that at first Keith thought they were brothers. 

Keith himself found a mirror in another student: Jeff Dukane. Like Keith, Jeff was an exceptional student, and Keith found himself enjoying a friendly silent rivalry—that was, until Jeff’s eyes strayed towards Sven with interest. 

_Don’t you dare!_ Keith thought with an obvious glare towards Jeff. To his relief, the next day Keith saw Jeff strolling with Commander Hawkins instead with a bounce to his feet. A catch for sure, but Keith only wanted Sven. 

When they were assigned on a mission to Planet Arus to find Princess Allura and form Voltron, the sense of déjà vu only grew. Although the events were altered differently, although Sven had not kissed Keith, had not so much as fallen for him and definitely did not propose to him in space, they were still close friends, and everything was still happening the same, more or less. Lance, Hunk, Pidge—their friends were the same as before, the same team, and it was not long before they became prisoners of the Drule. 

With the knowledge of what was to come, Keith made certain to reach Sven in time when he was injured. They managed to get him to a hospital in time. He was safe. Sven was alive. Keith saved him. 

That night Keith wept in his rooms, but it was with relief. He altered the course of his soulmate’s fate. He still had more time. _They_ now had more time. He would make Sven remember. 

They _will_ get back together. 

And on the day when they reunited, Keith’s heart had soared. For the first time in ages he heard Sven’s beautiful voice, that accent he so adored fill his cockpit: “Keith! It’s so good to hear your voice!” and Keith could not wait until they got to solid ground and could properly embrace. 

They held hands as Sven announced to Keith his intentions of staying with Romelle, the princess of Pollux. 

Keith’s heart clenched in an icy fist. Something with the way his eyes sparkled as he said those words, holding Keith’s arms—another memory of another life—Takashi had a brother! Where was Ryou? 

Keith’s mouth dropped a little. 

He had been worried about Jeff, thinking that would be a challenge from the Space Goddess. He never thought to think about Romelle—Romelle! Princess Amue, who Ryou would have married. If only he knew, he would have made certain to visit Sven, to request he rested right within Keith’s own bedroom—why didn’t he think of Romelle?! Didn’t remember Ryou? He should have paid more attention, damn it! Damn it! Sven had no siblings! If only!—things had been going so well! 

But Keith couldn’t hate Romelle. She was their friend and most trusted ally. And yet somehow she had captivated Sven instantly when Keith had been his friend for years and years. 

He watched them go off, a pair of rebels, and felt his own heart crumble. 

After some time, Lance approached him. He was expecting him to. Allura had always chose Lance to reward with a kiss on the cheek for a job well done. The two had something blossoming, but then…as Keith had expected, Allura’s attention began to stray towards him. And Lance noticed. 

Keith sighed heavily. He felt a connection to Allura, but it wasn’t romantic in any way. It was as if they were both on some sort of scrutiny under the Space Goddess, both on a long journey of reclamation. 

She was a friend to him. A dear friend, but that was all he wanted her to be.

⁂

“I don’t understand, Keith,” Sven began as he invited himself into the room. “We’re friends! But you haven’t been visiting and you’re not returning my letters! What’s the matter?”

“Sven, I…” Keith sighed and folded his arms, glancing away. He couldn’t bear looking at those eyes. “Sven, listen…I love you. Love you with all my heart. I’ve loved you for a very, very long time, but…I didn’t know how to tell you. I guess I wanted you to realize it too. I should have been more honest with you sooner. I’m sorry. 

“Congrats on your engagement with Romelle.” 

Sven gasped, stunned, but Keith had already bolted out of the room before he could call out his name.

⁂

Nanny dabbed at her eyes.

“Poor dear, to become a widow so soon!” she wept. “Their wedding was so beautiful and she was so happy, but now…!” 

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, although it did little to block out Nanny’s sobbing. At the least, he didn’t have to see Romelle hunched over the tombstone of her late husband and Keith’s soulmate. The effect of Haggar’s old wound had returned with a vengeance; Sven was already looking pale the day of the wedding. Two days later and they were laying Sven to rest. 

Noticing a hand over his, Keith pulled away from Allura. Not anymore. He couldn’t live this lie. He broke away from the group and made back to the Castle. 

“I’m sorry, Keith,” Coran said when Keith entered. “If you don’t mind me coming in, Princess Allura requested I check in on you.” 

Keith waved a hand. He was normally so upbeat with the others, but this should have been obvious to everyone. He was _grieving_. His heart was ripping into a million splinters. 

“Sven was such an…old, good friend to me.” 

Coran gave a sympathetic nod. “Perhaps some good news from the Alliance might lift your spirit?” Coran offered. 

Keith gave an absent-minded nod. Coran went through a list—mainly tidings from the Vehicle Voltron force, before one bit of news caught his attention. 

_“What?”_

“Oh, yes. Commander James Hawkins and Jeff Dukane, Captain of the Air Team, are set to marry in three months,” Coran repeated with a chuckle. “I know you and Jeff had a rivalry going on. I understand if you wish to hasten an engagement with Princess Allura.” 

Keith swallowed thickly. “No, no, it’s not that…I need to be alone.” 

After Coran left, Keith wept bitterly. _Jeff_ got to marry the man he set his eyes on back at the Garrison. Romelle got to have a man fall in love with her after speaking with him just one time. And Keith…Sven was _his_ soulmate. Why did he have to be alone again? 

No words could encompass the amount of pain and heaviness in his heart. If only he had kept Sven from falling in love with Romelle, would Sven still have been alive? Could they have been together instead? 

But there was no going back. He lost Sven. He failed to get him back. And he could almost feel the sneer from the cold Space Goddess. 

_Damn you_ , he silently cursed as he curled into a ball on his bed, weeping and wishing his heart would just stop. _Damn you!_

⁂

There was a song Krik, Captain of the Sea Team, enjoyed singing softly to his infant as he gently rocked him to sleep. Keith was advised to stay with Cinda and Krik for some time, as the others were worried for him and had hoped Krik’s gentle disposition would raise his spirits.

It had only crushed him. 

The song was “Across the Universe” by some classic rock band Keith had never paid much mind to before, but Krik had grown an attachment to it, as he adored anything from Planet Earth. He sang the song nearly every evening, and the words drifted like a haunting memory into the guest room where Keith was staying. Words meant to calm and soothe only worsened his mental state. 

Worst of all, he couldn’t get the song out of his head. Every morning he awoke to the thought of Sven and _“Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns, and calls me on and on across the universe.”_

⁂

“I’m afraid we’re losing him,” Coran announced softly to the others. “I don’t get it. He doesn’t seem infected with anything.”

Since Sven’s death, Keith had deteriorated. He stopped eating, stopping taking care of himself. There wasn’t any need to. The sooner he died, the sooner this whole universe’s story would pass and he could start over. 

Allura wept by his side. “Is there nothing you can do!” she took his frail hand and whelped, dropping them instantly. Too cold. 

Keith’s eyes trailed towards Lance. _Be with her._

But Lance’s own eyes were wet and he looked away. Pidge buried his face in Keith’s blanket, and Hunk placed his hands over Pidge’s shoulders. The colors of their jackets dulled in his eyes. And for a moment Keith felt bad for all of them; he didn’t mean to hurt them all like this…

…but he wanted— _needed_ —Sven, more than anything… 

_“A cowardly way to end the game,”_ the echoing voice filled around him. 

Keith balled his hands into fists. “You should be one to talk, taking away his brother Ryou! He was Amue’s lover, not Sven! Not Takashi! And what’s this with disillusioning Allura into thinking she’s in love with me? You’re playing with two women’s hearts, and I don’t like it!” 

_“You’re so concerned for these women’s feelings! And that man, Ryou! At last you miss his absence!”_

“Of course I do! It isn’t fair to have one in existence but not the other!”

 _“Oh, is that it?”_ the voice said and laughed. Keith looked about himself—soulmates were meant to walk together between lifetimes, but Sven wasn’t there to take his hand, and his heart wept. 

_I will find you again, Sven…Takashi—whatever it takes._

###### Third Chance: Like in Another Dimension 

A man haunted his dreams. Keith never remembered meeting him; he had a pretty good memory of people and faces, but he never remembered this man in particular, and the man never gave Keith his name. As time grew, Keith silently hoped he was dreaming of the future and he was seeing the face of his eventual husband. 

The thought is enough to keep him going in an otherwise strange life he found himself living. Fighting in an endless war with aliens who wore many masks, who messed with Keith’s mind once that he believed himself to be an actual lion once (he didn’t want to think back to that time, and thankfully the others on Voltron Force didn’t mention it)—the dreams were a welcoming oasis. 

The man became Keith’s friend, although he seldom spoke, as if the presence of their souls was good enough communication. Keith decided to give him a name—Shiro, because whenever he saw him, beautiful white, radiant light surrounded him. 

He was extremely handsome—especially the eyes. Most striking of all had to be the eyes, kind and soft and eternally patient and wise beyond his years. And there was something else about them, something…familiar, but Keith couldn’t quite fully explain. It drove him mad each time he awoke, feeling as though he had seen them before, peered into them before kissing the lips just inches below them. He must have known this man, this Shiro, from before. 

He had asked Pidge if he had ever lost memories of his past (he hadn’t); he asked Lance if he had ever gotten so drunk he had a one-night stand with someone he doesn’t now recall (he was never that reckless). 

He asked Allura at some point about connections with others. Her research into the sacred connection between lion and pilot had yielded very vital results, information that helped them to eventually win against Lotor. After their lions were destroyed, they were able to completely reconstruct a new set of lions from their bonds. 

“How far does a bond go?” he asked her. 

He knew the story of Arus, that over a thousand years ago a spaceship had crash-landed and the only survivor was a young girl named Arielle who was then raised by five lions; they had taught her the ways of the Lion. Arielle grew to become the first Queen of Arus, and she built the Castle of Lions in honor of her guardians. The five lions swore to protect the castle and the planet, and they did so by building the Lion space crafts. Even when the robots were destroyed, the spirits were not, invincible as they were, and were able to create a new set of mechanical lion bodies to inhabit. 

Keith listened to all this again, and again, and silently nodded. Something between the lines of the lore struck a chord in him but he couldn’t quite put a finger to it.

⁂

The war ends. Time passes, but all too soon Keith finds himself feeling unwell. Something about his earlier infliction, of being Lion Boy, had returned. Unexpected consequences, Coran explains. Keith is left bed-bound, but without the threat of Lotor or Zarkon, or the sense of needing to be out there, he decides to take time to heal.

But he never heals. His mind wanders. The dreams become more frequent. He finds himself searching out Shiro, wondering more and more about the man, yet somehow he’s unable to speak to him. They sit in silence for long stretches of time, seemingly uninterrupted by Keith waking in and out of sleep. 

At one point, he manages a, “Shiro,” soft and at it almost disappears into the air. Shiro smiles to him and holds his hand, warmer than anything. Something flutters nearby. 

“He’s slipping away.” The words come from somewhere far away, but Keith scarcely could hear them. The dream became more of a reality. The warmth of Shiro’s hand was more real than the blankets over his frail body. 

Were it not for the strange silence, the seemingly lack of time in this dreamscape, Keith could almost call this perfect. Dying wasn’t so bad. 

It was not until the very end when the memories finally returned. Before he took his final breath, before Shiro’s hand slipped away from the comfortable grip, he remembered: the prison, the Galra, the cat, Honerva, holding Takashi— _Takashi!_ , the ring!—the tombstone, the Space Goddess—the Space Goddess. 

“Why didn’t you have me meet him?” Keith demanded. 

_“Oh, did you want him alive?”_

Keith growled under his breath. “You didn’t have him _born_? You can do that?!” 

The Space Goddess laughed coldly. _“I was trying to help you. You seemed terribly distressed to see your soulmate with another, so I have removed that element in this lifetime.”_

“But you have removed him entirely from my life!” Keith said. “He never was even born! He was nothing more than a dream! How can I break the cursed cycle if Takashi never was _born_?!” 

_“Man of your dreams! And wasn’t that better? More romantic?”_ the Space Goddess asked. _“You got to be together and no one could interfere!”_

Anger fueled inside Keith but he kept his anger in check, remembering all too well their previous arguments and how it didn’t panned well for him. 

“Yes, we did, but I did not get to live a life with him,” Keith said. “I barely got to exchange words with him. It does not feel like a victory.” 

Something coiled in the pit of his stomach as he looked around. “This is not a victory at all. I didn’t break the cycle. Shouldn’t he be here right now? Shouldn’t we be walking together to the next life?” 

In response he felt the world about him tighten before everything turned black.

###### Fourth Chance: Dealing with the Devil

Sitting in Admiral James Hawkins’s office, awaiting to be debriefed on their apparent new life, Keith’s eyes kept drawing back to the one named Sven Holgersson. He knew nothing about him, had never seen him—they were from opposite ends of the States: Sven from San Francisco and Keith from New York City—and yet a strange inkling of recognition tingled in the back of his mind. 

He couldn’t think of where they could have met. Perhaps Sven had lost a loved one in the same plane crash that claimed Keith’s fiancée several years back. The memory of _that_ coils uneasily in Keith’s mind; he had never felt right since, as if he was only going through emotions like in a dream. 

After the debriefing (Keith thought it was a load of bullcrap, but it would at least give him a chance to get away from this hellhole called Planet Earth), the other pilots turned to one another and introduced themselves. Keith split from the group…only to find Sven extending out a hand. 

As if by instinct—and Keith was no touchy-feely person—he took Sven’s hand and shook it, searching and studying his eyes. 

“It feels like we’re known one another before,” he drawled, vaguely hoping Sven would offer an explanation. Not likely it was anyone Keith could have met during a job (ha!), as there was none. No career path, no direction…for the first time in his life, Sven sparked an intrigue to Keith, and he was almost terrified to unravel the mystery. 

Keith gripped Sven’s hand tighter. Strong, firm, yet soft. He was a bookie from the way he had been ogling Admiral Hawkins’s collection earlier, but the man was strong and knew how to fight. Perhaps they met before in Keith’s martial arts school and his strength landed Keith in the hospital; if he had gotten a temporary amnesia from it, that would explain a lot. 

Except Sven studied him in return and shrugged. “Perhaps in another life,” was his only helpful suggestion. 

The memories hit him all at once when they were finally out there in space. The legend of Voltron was like a fairytale he had heard many times before—many, _many_ times before, because he had lived it, had traveled among these very stars, had a passion for traveling, for being a space explorer—

—Holding hands, Takashi and he, reminiscing about their days at Fuji Space School, smiling as they spoke about their upcoming mission, unknowing it would become their last time together out of Earth, the engagement among the stars—the death, the Space Goddess, the challenge between them—

Keith gripped his arm rest. _I’m a…queer?_ He pushed the thought away, finding the idea not anywhere near as repulsive as he’s imagined the revelation would. It wasn’t nearly as bad as how he had been living his life. 

That would explain the inexplicable draw towards Sven, in any event. 

How many more lives had he lived so far? How many more chances did he have left? Why did he keep failing in getting Sven back? 

But he had no more time to think on the matter. Their spaceship had just broken through the stratosphere of Arus, and Keith forced his mind back to the matter at hand.

⁂

“You’re the man of my dreams!”

Keith’s stomach sunk. He didn’t wish to deal with Allura’s affections this early on in their adventure. He kept their discussions professional and hoped his casual dismissal would send her a firm enough message. 

As for Keith himself, his own heart nearly betrayed him when he found Sven making his way to him time and time again, seeing him as a suitable confidant. It took all of his willpower not to divulge their entire history to Sven. One fairytale was mad enough— 

—And then, Sven was revealed to have a terrible illness, a brain defect that didn’t allow him to pilot the Blue Lion. Keith kept his own feelings buried, out of fear and respect—Sven was ill. He would tell him another day, when he was better.

But then Sven betrayed them.

⁂

Words could not explain the pain at seeing Sven at the other side of the battlefield. With the knowledge he now knew, Keith wondered if this had been all part of the Space Goddess’s curse.

“I will get you back, in every way possible,” Keith muttered under his breath. “I’ll never give up on you.” 

Allura continued to seek him, grabbing for his hand to hold as if they were high school sweethearts, and Keith’s heart filled with grief; he could see Lance’s eyes glaze with longing and vague envy, and he wished he could find some way to get the two paired instead. Worse still was finding Jeff in this world. Remembering another previous life, he watched as Jeff and Hawkins discussed some strategy off in the distance, their heads close together; at one point, Hawkins leaned closer, and Jeff reached up, eager for a kiss. 

Keith stormed off, having seen enough. 

To his relief, Sven _did_ return to them. With a long story of his own adventure, of a planet named Pollux and meeting allies named Bandor and Romelle, Sven returned to them changed but looking happier than Keith ever remembered him. 

And then he introduced them to Romelle, the woman he wished to share his future with, and Keith’s heart shattered in his chest. He hadn’t even been given a chance to get to know his soulmate in this lifetime. 

Forced to smile, happy that Sven was healthy again, he watched as his soulmate left him again.

⁂

Sven died two years after that day.

His brain defect had worsened unknowingly until it was too late. Keith rushed to Pollux the very moment he had received news. He found Romelle, red-eyed and crying in front of their house, and learned Sven had passed away earlier that morning. 

Arus wasn’t home to him any more. Neither was Earth, which was Admiral Hawkins and Jeff’s domain as far as he was concerned. Allura had tried to comfort him, erroneously thinking a kiss from the princess of his dreams might cure him. 

He wanted none of it.

He was done. 

He gave up. 

_“Well, that was certainly a violent end,”_ the Space Goddess commented casually, no remorse or sympathy in her voice. _“That’s bound to be a giant mess for them to wash up.”_

Her voice filled the space around him. Keith sucked in the air around him, trying not to burst into a rage. 

“I’m hurt,” Keith seethed. “I have only ever known pain in this lifetime. I didn’t want any more.” 

_“That is the usual case,”_ the Space Goddess said. _“I do feel for those who depart in such manner.”_

Keith’s lips trembled. “You…feel for those who take away their own lives? And what of the constant pain you have put us through! Sven—Takashi!—suffered so much in his life— _I_ suffered so much in my life! At the very least I wished to be there for his final moments!” 

_“That can be arranged for the next life.”_

Keith’s heart froze over. What did She mean by that? 

Before he could ask the world around him changed again.

###### Fifth Chance: Never Giving Up on You

They are friends again, went to the Galaxy Alliance Academy as Cadets, only this time Sven was his assigned Big Sib, a sort of in-school mentor to help with the new recruits. The moment they met, Keith’s memories return as if the first sunshine of spring. Smiling, he has a good feeling about this lifetime. Something about it holds promise. He’ll make sure he won’t fail this time. 

Sven is there to congratulate him with an embrace after he graduates. Their squad become pilots assigned on a mission out of Earth, they find Princess Allura, become the pilots of the lions, form Voltron once more. 

And then Sven gets ill from the cat. Keith is there to rescue him again, and he manages to visit him at the hospital in Ebb— _at last_. 

Maybe this time things would go differently, Keith hoped as he watched his soulmate rest in his hospital bed. 

But something remained inside Sven’s system from the attack even well after his discharge from the hospital. It would not be until much later on they learn of the full extent of his poisoning. 

Haggarium. The essence, the dark energy, of the old witch Haggar, which powered Robeasts, became a deadly poison. For his own sake, Sven left the team entirely. He gave Keith no means of ever contacting him. Upset, he too went into retirement, but it didn’t last long, not when three little rugrat cadets needed guidance and the Voltron Force team were needed once more. 

It wouldn’t be until a couple years later when Keith would run into Sven again, and in the strangest of places: Crydor, a planet so cold not even their lions could endure its frigid temperatures. Sven had chosen it because it delayed the progress of the disease, but it had already changed him from the once quiet man Keith knew and secretly loved back on Earth to a wild and dangerous man. 

Another thing Keith learned, something which brought upon a terrible ache, was learning that Sven had a baby son. He tried to think of who the mother could have been. Romelle? Was she a nurse from Ebb this time around? Or was the mother another woman? Where was she now? He never asked Sven, and Sven never elaborated. 

Sven disappeared again after his battle with Lotor and Maahox, and Allura took the baby away for them out of Crydor for safety. Keith wanted to turn back, wanting to make sure Sven was alright despite the others’ assurance that the Haggarium poison had given Sven strength; he could survive any fall. 

The baby was given to Allura’s former nanny and for a time things settled back to normal. Battles were won. Lance and Allura handed off their keys to Vince and Larmina respectively. Keith handed his to Daniel, ready and part-eager to go back to retirement, perhaps seek out Sven after his time as Voltron leader was over. 

But then Allura learned Keith was part Arusian of a royal line and suddenly became enamored with him, despite previously enjoying the occasional flirtations and witty banter with Lance. Dread filled Keith, but rescue came in the strangest form: Daniel’s own Haggarium poisoning was getting the best of him, and Keith took back the Black Lion.

At some point, Daniel escaped, and the others searched for him. Vince was the most affected by Daniel’s disappearance. Keith had since learned the two young men had a telepathic connection, and sitting in the cockpit with him, he frowned as he recalled the memory when Vince confined in him. 

“And you haven’t been able to reach out to him?” Keith had asked.

“No! And it’s really crazy, it’s like…” Vince had shook his head, close to tears, and Keith’s heart broke. “Listen, man…I love him. We used to share with each other our deepest, darkest secrets. No one else knew. At first it was a little weird, but then it was…nice. It felt so nice! I now feel like I’ve…lost a soulmate.” 

Keith had laughed hollowly. 

Now Vince, red-eyed by determined, analyzed his dashboard for any signs of Daniel. 

“I’ll never give up on you,” Vince vowed, switching something on his controls. “You hear that, Daniel? I’m never giving up on you!” 

Keith felt a tug in his heart. He would have done the same for Sven, for his Takashi.

⁂

At first chance, he picked up Sven’s son from the nanny and bought a tiny house for them together. Breaking it off with Allura had hurt, but he wasn’t his royal grandfather or whatever, and seeing Daniel and Vince unite, another pair of soulmates, was the final straw. He couldn’t live this lie. Allura _had_ to go back to Lance. And he, Keith, had to resolve this between himself and Sven…somehow.

Sven had never named his child, from what Keith had learned, and Nanny hadn’t settled on a name, but Keith knew the prefect name for him. 

“Shiro, white like the snow you grew up in,” Keith said as he held the child close to him.

⁂

When young Shiro was big enough to travel, Keith got his spaceship ready and took them back to Crydor. The place was colder than he remembered, or probably the warmth of Pollux had just spoiled him. He made sure Shiro was well bundled up before they approached the cabin Keith suspected would be Sven’s place.

“Who’s there?” came a wispy greeting when Keith entered the small foyer. 

“It’s me, Sven,” Keith said. “I brought your son to see you, if that’s okay with you.” 

Frowning, he squeezed Shiro’s hand and told him to stay for a moment before taking a few steps inside. Seeing Sven on the bed, eyes glassed over, the purple veins having claimed most of his body, Keith debated if Shiro should see his father like this. 

“Keith?” Sven’s voice softened. “Dear friend, it’s so good to hear your voice again! Come in! I would love to see my son!” 

“Um, would that be a good idea—I mean, is it—”

“Daddy…” Shiro paddled around Keith’s legs and towards Sven, settling next to him as if it was nothing. 

“I’m not contagious,” Sven said, “but I fear my time is limited.” 

“Then we came at the right time,” Keith said and settled by him. His heart raged. Why? _Why?_ He keeps losing Sven! He watched tearfully—unashamed as Sven could scarcely see him—while Sven caressed the auburn locks on his son’s head. 

“Take care of him,” Sven said. “I was in so much pain I never thought of a good name.” 

“Shiro,” Keith said. “It means ‘white’. I was thinking of the snow of Crydor.” 

Sven smiled. “I like that. Shiro…thank you, Keith.” 

He closed his eyes as Keith lowered his head. “I loved you from the moment we met. I know we’re soulmates but…something…keeps trying to pull us apart. I don’t know why fate keeps trying to hurt us like this. But in every lifetime—every single lifetime, I only ever loved you. We barely had time to be together, and I wish we could have—if we only could have.” 

He glanced up and gasped slightly, realizing the man before him—his beloved and soulmate—had not heard him. He leaned over and kissed him as a teardrop fell, then gently wrapped his arms around Shiro who wept into his arms.

Without reason he began humming a mournful song he recalled from some lifetime ago; it twisted the knife already in his chest, and he wiped the tears away. Shiro wept loudly, and Keith shook himself out of his self-torment. He kissed his brow, gently shushed him, and whispered, “Let’s go.”

⁂

It was the longest Keith had ever lived. He owed it all to little Shiro. He couldn’t die just yet, not when a little piece of Sven remained in this life. Keith couldn’t abandon him.

He raised Shiro as if he were both Sven and his own child (and without his mother ever appearing, Keith wanted to think he was the true other parent.) To his delight, Shiro grew and developed an interest in piloting and space, just like his father _s_. 

It was a heart attack that eventually claimed Keith. He had ignored the first bout while fixing their car, but after the second—feeling as though the entire car had just fallen on his chest—Shiro had him sit on a bench and called for an ambulance. While Keith waited he smiled, thinking how much Shiro made him proud, and rested his head on his chest. 

_“That wasn’t so bad,”_ the Space Goddess said. _“You got to tell him goodbye this time, and your raised his child. In doing that you’ve lived into your senior years, the longest I have seen yet.”_

Keith smiled sadly. She had a point, but he sensed the lurking danger in her honeyed words. “It isn’t the same.” 

Immediately, he felt the mood around him shift. 

_“But isn’t this what you wanted?”_ the Space Goddess asked. 

“It does not fulfill what I want: for Takashi-Sven—whatever name he goes by—to love _me_! He barely even notices me! Or he’s fast to notice another! And clearly the curse isn’t broken, because he’s not here right now, with me!” 

The Space Goddess laughed. _“Does that not make the challenge more exciting?”_

Keith’s heart thumped. How many more chances did he have left? 

“I think you’re being too unfair,” he said. “I have watched James Hawkins and Jeff Dukane fall in love in every lifetime, and I’m sure I’ll get invitations to every wedding for a Vince and Daniel next. _Please!_ ”

_“Hmm.”_

Keith felt the space around him darken and turn cold once again.

###### Sixth Chance: Whatever It Takes

Sven woke up in a cold sweat again, haunted by the image of Keith’s cold, dead eyes starting back at him, face frozen in fright forevermore. Blood pooled around his head. 

“Is everything alright?” Katrina asked. 

“Yes,” Sven lied before getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom. He reached for the bottle of pills again and instinctively took two capsules out and swallowed them without another thought. He gripped the basin as the spinning around him settled. 

Keith…the thought of him, so young and innocent, that face contorted in pain a split second before his untimely death—no, he had to do something about it.

⁂

“You’re pulling me out of the squadron?” Keith asked, perplexed. He watched his commanding officer intently and pushed back his own little crush. He’d found Sven handsome ever since the day they had met; he was sure he had seen him before but wasn’t sure where and when. Still, the fact that Sven Holgersson didn’t think he was fit to play with the big boys hurt. He wasn’t a little kid!

Sven drew a heavy sigh. “It’s not what you think,” was all he said, giving him one pat on his shoulder before marching off. 

It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. And it hurt so much— _too_ much. 

He wanted to impress his commanding officer, even if he was just the new kid. He needed to prove himself. But each time Sven regarded him, it was with a look that spoke of pity and compassion…but for what? 

And then there were the dreams. Both he and Sven attending flight school in Japan, exploring space, caught in an alien prison, an engagement ring glimmering beautifully among the stars… 

At some point, as much as Keith didn’t want to admit it—only lovesick teens thought of this—he wondered if they were fated soulmates. 

Until he learned the dreams were all real. 

And that realization struck, of all times, while Sven pulled him aside and confessed the real reason for giving him such low-brow work. 

“Listen, kid, I really value your skills but…there’s just been all of these dreams. I keep seeing you get killed—all of my squadron—and it’s always my fault. But I cannot bear seeing you in particular die. I just—I don’t mean this to sound _gay_ or anything—” Keith flinched but quickly recovered—“but I don’t know, I just couldn’t bear seeing you dead, kiddo, so I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make sure you make it, okay? So I’m just trying to protect you. Sorry if it seems I’ve been coddling you.” 

He gave Keith a smile that pierced straight through his heart, hollow-point. When he turned back around, Keith wanted to call back to him. He was with Katrina, the team leader of another squadron. Not with Romelle in this lifetime—he remembered the name now—she didn’t even exist (at least he didn’t know of any Romelle by this point). 

He kept his feelings buried, trying not to let the fact that Sven already being with Katrina distract him too much. They grew as a team—him, Sven, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge. 

Sven came to him frequently, having found a friend to confide in. Although Lance was the next in line of command, it was he, Keith, who became the new leader of the squadron when Sven needed to step down. 

They kept in contact secretly, and Keith’s love for Sven only grew. It was only to Keith that Sven trusted and confided in. He didn’t even remain with Katrina; he had left her. But then Keith had learned about him getting married on another planet. There was a Romelle after all. Crushed, communications with Sven ceased for some time. 

A new member of their team from planet Arus, Allura, grew an interest in him, and he found himself giving in. Just as venue to release all the tension he had building for Sven. 

When he did eventually see Sven again, he had changed. Romelle had died, killed by Zarkon, who Sven in turn had murdered in revenge. The world about them was crashing, and on the quiet fields of Pollux they formulated a plan which broke and shattered Keith’s heart. 

He could hear the Space Goddess’s laughter as he clicked the magazine into place. 

_I’m sorry. I love you_ , Keith thought and pulled the trigger.

⁂

Allura left him. She went straight into the arms of Lance, but it would be for all the better, especially after his squadron will discover what they had done. Everyone had given Keith a wide berth, starting with the funeral. He shook hands with a man no one else had seen, and when he spoke with him, several had gasped, spoke in whispers, and put as much distance away from him.

Later on he waited until the man approached him. 

“Sven,” Keith said, smiling fondly.

⁂

“He hallucinated ever since Sven died,” Hunk said sadly. His wife Justine patted him on the shoulder while holding holding on to their infant in the other arm. “They said he kept talking to the walls until he shot himself in the head.”

Allura wailed into Lance’s chest, too grief-stricken to utter a single word. 

“Damn,” was all Lance could say. “Driven to madness by grief and by…what he did.” 

Pidge nodded gravely. “Yeah, that suicide note…” 

“ _Please forgive me, Sven?_ Yeah, hella weird,” Hunk said. 

“Well, we now know he’s the one who shot Sven, just to stop the production of new Voltrons,” Lance added in a small voice before returning to comforting Allura who kept shaking her head in disbelief. 

“Guess Sven and Keith were closer than we realized?” 

“Didn’t think he’d crack,” Pidge confessed. “Guess he kept so much buried inside.” 

“I…guys?” Keith watched them from a haze before turning around and looking up at the Space Goddess. “I don’t remember any of this.” 

_“Oh yes,”_ the Space Goddess in a deadpan voice. _“After shooting Sven, you saw him everywhere. You wanted to believe you two agreed to_ pretend _he was dead, but only you saw him. You tried to live out your happy ever after, and when you couldn’t get it: goodbye, cruel world.”_

“That isn’t funny!” Keith snarled. “Not funny one bit!” 

He squeezed his eyes shut. “And is there a reason _why_ Sven only has eyes for women? This lifetime wasn’t very…accepting of our sort of love, and…” 

The Space Goddess only laughed. _“Ah, did I make it too challenging? I can do something about that.”_

###### Seventh Chance: Folded by Space-Time

“We’ll help you find your princess,” Roy Fokker said with a wink as if he knew there was something more between Keith and the aforementioned princess, but Keith cringed and forced back an uneasy smile. 

Another lifetime. Another life of fighting the Drule. Another lifetime of having to endure Allura falling for him the moment he stepped onto Arus. Except…

This time, Sven was interested in Keith. Made it known to Keith. While they hadn’t gotten the chance to take their relationship farther, what with the war literally pulling them apart as Sven found himself stationed away from Keith, leading a small group of rebels while Keith was busy leading the Voltron team—still, the knowledge that Sven was interested in Keith made all the difference in the world. For once, he hoped he had gotten it right in this time. He had defeated the Space Goddess and just in the nick of time. He was almost out of chances. The curse would be broken and the soulmates would return to their pattern once more. They’d see one another again after their death. Everything will be fine once more. 

Except everyone else thought Keith liked Allura. The other pilots constantly teased Keith about _his_ crush on the princess, although it was the other way around. “Come on, Keith! Quit talking and more doing!” they taunted, including Lance, who Keith knew should have been the one up there approaching Princess Allura for her hand. 

He steadied himself. He was going to do it. He was going to tell Allura that he didn’t feel the same, that she should consider a date with Lance instead, and then he was going to go find Sven. It was a nice spring day and things have been quiet; maybe today would be the day he could start a new relationship with someone he loved. Someone he missed for many lifetimes. 

But then the skies opened up, and two universes collided. Before Keith knew it he was working with the crew from Macross Island who knew nothing of Voltron, and with a man named Roy Fokker who gave him a knowing grin and a wink every time Allura was mentioned. Keith pulled an uneasy smile, unsure how Roy’s universe felt about relationships between men. 

They had to fix their universes from the rip caused by the time-space continuum. Destroying the Omega Comet went successful, and Roy returned to his world and they to theirs. Leaning back in his cockpit, Keith drew in a deep sigh. He could, hopefully, return to pursuing Sven.

⁂

“What do you mean?! I thought you said the Omega Comet dematerialized!”

Three months later, and Keith and Sven hadn’t quite gotten the chance to speak, though Keith had met with him briefly and caught him up on the events. Being embraced by him the moment they saw one another—Sven’s eyes always lit up when they saw him—always filled Keith with warmth. So close. He was so close to getting him back. 

What Keith had hoped would be them going back to fighting Robeasts and forming Voltron was short-lived. A much bigger threat lay ahead of them—as it had turned out, Lotor and Khyron had joined forces across the universes and have formed an army large and deadly enough to wipe out both universes. And they, Coran informed the team, needed the aid from SDF-1 and their fighters once more to defeat the common enemy. 

“There’s another Omega Comet coming?” Hunk asked. 

“There are other means,” Coran said. “We have a Drule who is willing to comply with us, one named Merla…” 

Keith frowned as he found himself shaking hands with Roy Fokker once more, as if an alarm went off. Something about the way Roy smiled or the handshake. A betrayal? No, Roy Fokker didn’t betray the team. He was one of the SDF-1’s best fighter pilots to ever grace the skies. 

But something wasn’t right about this, purposely ripping the time-space continuum. The same dread that accompanied Keith throughout his previous lifetimes was suddenly catching up to him. 

Roy. It all had to do with Roy. 

But Roy had given no indication that he was malicious, and had in fact proven to be the greatest ally in their fight against the Lotor-Khyron alliance. He had nearly gotten killed, as his fiancée Claudia criticized him for always being so brash and bold in piloting. 

But the war was, at last, won. The joint effort of Voltron, the rebels, the Castle, and the SDF-1 and its fighter jets all led the two universes to victory. 

Grinning, Keith slipped out of his lion just as he landed on the island where Sven and his rebel crew were stationed. He smiled at the thought of seeing Sven again. Sven’s voice had guided Keith throughout the battlefield, helping him navigate. He could have practically kissed him. In fact, he decided he will once he saw him! Now that the war was won and everyone was in a good mood, Keith hopped out of his lion, calling eagerly out for Sven, ready to throw himself into his arms, ready to take their relationship to the next step, when—

He froze dead in his tracks, mouth agape at the sight before him. Sven and Roy were entwined in one another’s arms, their lips locked. 

“But…but, _how_?!” Keith demanded loudly. “Claudia?!” 

Roy raised his head and regarded Keith with a polite smile. “Oh, Claudia! She’ll come to understand eventually. Speaking which, you just reminded me I should inform her I’m breaking off the engagement. I’ve found another. Thank you again, Sven!” 

Dumbstruck, Keith stared at Sven who only had eyes for Roy.

Keith’s stomach turned. This was the alarm he knew so well. This was how the Space Goddess got to hurt him this time around.

⁂

One year after the wedding, Sven was found dead. Keith immediately suspected Roy of the murder; there was always something hidden under that smile. Just like how he had pushed Keith towards Allura, how he had tricked Claudia—who had wept so much after Roy called things off she couldn’t even attend the wedding—and now this…

There was no way to prove it, but Keith suspected Roy of murdering Sven. Forget the star pilot status; something evil lay inside him. And if the heartbreak Roy had caused Keith by marrying Sven wasn’t bad enough, the news of Sven’s death completely shattered Keith. 

Maddened, Keith tried to seek justice for his Sven, and when he couldn’t, he took away his own life. 

_“Back again?”_

The Space Goddess’s words nearly earned her a punch to the face. Growling, Keith staggered to his feet. 

“Where is he?” he demanded. “I must see Sven!” 

_“You cannot see him until you’ve reestablished the bond.”_

“We’re soulmates! That’s a bond even you can’t break!” He ran past her, calling out Sven’s name. He had to break the vicious cycle somehow. “Sven!” Surely Sven—Takashi—could hear him? Surely he didn’t need to meld things in a lifetime, but here? 

But even as he ran and called for Sven, Keith felt existence around him turn black— _No, NO!_ —and he reached out, begging for Sven to hear his call and answer back.

###### Eighth Chance: Into the Ashes

Keith remembered him. His heart had ached for his Sven, his Takashi, since the moment he first took a seat at the great giant robot Voltron. But this life’s Sven never came for him in the forests, never met him while he was in the Galaxy Garrison, never asked him to marry him while they were out in space. Keith was, yet again, alone. 

But he had his friends. There was Pidge and Hunk, and Lance and his bride Allura. He stuck by them. At least Lance and Allura were together; he had made his own orientation known, damned if society wouldn’t accept its own defender. Pidge told him they were proud of him; of course they would understand, and Keith was thankful for their support. 

The openness gave Keith some peace of mind. He came to love his fellow pilots as a family; he needed them to fill in the void where Sven/Takashi should have been.

⁂

Pidge was the first person he found, and they begged him to find Allura first—she was the queen; he had to make sure she survived, but Keith couldn’t let Pidge go—he carried them on his back as he hunted for the others, all the while calling for them.

But it was futile. Weary, tired, exhausted to the bone, he wept and grieved for the only friends he knew. No one came for a victory march. Coran must have perished along in the devastating war. Last he recalled, the Castle of Lions had been attacked before Voltron lunged after Haggar

Then as the long night stretched, he wondered if any of this could have been prevented. 

“Would Sven being here have saved us?” he wondered. 

The question remained in the forefront of his mind, keeping him preoccupied as he buried his friends and stayed in the desert where Voltron had fallen. Three years later and he had come across a traveling band of Arusian monks, the first contact with the outer world. He told them of his tale, of the heroic deeds of Voltron. 

The story spread. People came to celebrate their victors and to mourn the loss of their sacrificial queen. 

_How terrible_ , Keith thought. _She barely got to be happy with Lance._

Eleven years after the fall of Voltron, the first of the shrines were built, and Keith became a teacher and sage to the people who had come to hear of the tales of Voltron. The shrine grew, and so did the legend, and Keith found himself unwilling to correct the tales he had heard of Voltron. For the Monks believed that one day, the mighty robot would be needed once more, though Keith was loathed to admit it—the seats were haunted with the remains of his fallen friends—he had to agree. The mission was more important than any of them combined.

⁂

“High Priest Kogane, sir?”

How cruel was the damned Space Goddess? Forty-two years since the fall of Voltron, and on the verge of his death, Keith at last met his soulmate. But Sven was only a small boy, the son of one of the monks. He gazed up at Keith with wonderment before remembering his manners and presenting the cup of tea. 

“I hope it’s to your liking,” he said. 

“It is, thank you very much,” Keith said kindly. “What’s your name?” 

“Ta’kshi Hophi,” the boy answered. “I…I’m sorry I was starring. Do you humans really only live for one hundred years?” 

One corner of Keith’s lips perked. “Most of us don’t even make it to a hundred, and none have ever lived as long as an Arusian—although I’m not sure what I’d do for three hundred years.” 

Ta’kshi’s eyes glimmered. “There’s so much to learn! So many places I’d love to see—I want to study the stars and help people! And—the new defenders! I want to find the new defenders of the universe and watch them form Voltron!” 

“So you want to become Teacher Hophi?” Keith said, smiling sadly. 

Ta’kshi nodded eagerly. Keith finished his tea and sent him off, encouraging him to keep at his studies. Ta’kshi asked him is he could come back in the morning and ask questions about his time as a pilot, and Keith couldn’t say no. But when he lay his head— _Possessing and mocking me_ —his heart shattered and he wept heavily until darkness finally took him. 

_“And then, a hundred and fifty-seven years later, Teacher Hophi indeed finds the new defenders of the universe, just in time as Haggar threatens their world,”_ the Space Goddess spoke as Keith, eyes glazed with tears, watched and couldn’t tear his eyes off the happenings of the world he had left on the night he had met his soulmate. _“But, oh, what is this? The black paladin and the red paladin are quite entrapped with one another in the new team! Does it not warm your own heart to know Jayce and Kirin have found one another and bonded inside Voltron? Imagine if that was you and him.”_

Keith clenched his fist. “Why couldn’t it have been him and me? _Why?_ Why did I have to watch Commander Hawkins and Jeff, Daniel and Vince, Jayce and Kirin—so many others finding themselves, but not myself and Takashi?!” 

_“Ah, don’t you remember, emotional one?”_

Growling, Keith lunged at her, but it was like striking through mist. 

“One more time,” he hissed, and he could feel as though every breath in every universe still as though they knew what was on his mind as he glared into the Goddess’s eyes. 

“One more chance. Should I fail again, then you may erase me from all of existence forever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding the From the Ashes segment: Teacher Hophi is mentioned by name by Niki (the new Blue Paladin). I thought it’d be cool to make him our Sven/Shiro/Takashi, but to do that the Arusians had to live for about 300 years. Hopi isn’t Shiro/Sven by canon but that was the only way to bring him in (and I thought it would be a pretty damn tragic twist), and we don’t really know Arusian lifespans.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a small moment featuring teenage Keith with body dysphoria and fear of not being accepted. 
> 
> Also: brief instance of cussing out a deity.
> 
> ALSO, just to remind: every lifetime has followed the canon events of every Voltron iteration. I will be doing the same for VLD, which is coming up in this chapter, and I decided to touch on the end cards. However, without giving spoilers, it won't be permanent. There will be a huge fix-it right after, not only for Shiro and Keith's fates but also for Allura.

###### Last Chance: If It Weren’t For You

Pain. 

It would seem that was all his life was marked by. He never knew his mother, and his father seldom spoke about her. Every time Keith asked about his mother, his father’s eyes would get a look as if he were staring off into the distance. 

“She was a wonderful person, Keith,” he said, and that would be the furthest their conversations went. The only else else Keith knew for sure was that his mother was still alive; his father definitely didn’t entertain the thought of her being dead. After some time Keith suspected she didn’t want him and had left. After his father died and no woman showed up to pay respects to Heath Koh, Keith was almost certain the problem had to have been himself.

What more proof did he need that his mother didn’t want him? 

Maybe she blamed him for being the reason his father dying. 

As if the dreams weren’t bad enough, those dreams of himself suffering one heartbreak after another. Emotions he could scarcely describe. There was a scary big forest and monster, and a boy who filled his heart with _something_ he couldn’t pinpoint but it ached so badly he’d wake up in tears. Or holding a handsome young man in his arms and watch helplessly as he bled to death. He didn’t know who that person was and simply surmised it was an imaginary friend dreamt up in his endless life of loneliness. 

Even the dreams that were technically happy—they were dreams filled with a smiling handsome boy or man, filled him with sadness, like he wanted to go back to a home he could never return to.

The first time he heard of Takashi Shirogane, it’s in class when Principal Koplar announced that they were to have a visitor next week from the Galaxy Garrison. Keith called him Shiro as some sort of reflex, not understanding why, but the name stuck, especially as part of the mantra “Shiro the hero!” amongst the playgrounds. Everyone else around him began using the name, even Mrs. Bunn, much to her own chagrin. 

Later on, he heard Shiro—Takashi—found the name endearing from the students and adopted it from himself, but by that point Keith didn’t want to meet him or hear anything he wanted to say about the stupid Galaxy Garrison. It wasn’t like Keith had any chance of ever going there. It wasn’t like the school would let him anyway, especially not with his record. It wasn’t like Keith had bad grades—or…he would have had top grades, if he bothered with the stupid place. The fact that Principal Koplar and his threats, Mrs. Bunn handing out detentions, and everyone in class making his life hell didn’t exactly foster the school as a place Keith looked forward to every morning. 

_Not that I care_ , Keith thought, staring out the window and refusing to look at their guest, refusing to even think of what being in space was like. _I bet the Garrison is stupid anyway and the food’s terrible and all the students are just as awful jerks as everyone here._

*

“Looks like you’re the only one who’s left.”

The first time Keith really looked at Shiro was when he said those words. No longer able to resist the heat of his gaze on him, he turned back, feeling a spotlight on him as the tall young _very handsome_ man studied him with hands on his hips and a playful big smile on his face. 

“Think you got what it takes?” 

Dumbstruck for a moment, Keith quickly recovered. Gingerly he got up, unsure whether to take his words as a threat, challenge, or an offer. He knew Mrs. Bunn would have much rather he sat out the whole day without drawing attention to himself, especially after the fight with teacher’s pet James Griffin yesterday in the cafeteria. He approached Shiro while feeling every pair of eyes on him. 

“Why don’t you give it a try?” Shiro encouraged in a softer voice. 

What, did he think Keith had to be _coddled_? It was enough to fuel Keith into action, but one look into the kind eyes instantly stilled his fist from rising above his hips. Eyeing the simulator, Keith bolstered himself through the crowd. 

The rest was history. 

Classmates erupted into gasps and chatter around him, and perhaps his score was warming some of them back to him after that fight; James was insisting the simulator was rigged, but that was only because Ina was wholly engrossed in his playing and Keith knew James had it in for both Ina Leifsdottir and Kelly Morris and just about any girl with blonde hair. As for Keith, he didn’t care for any of their attention save for one’s; he kept focus. 

“Is this guy on here?” he heard Shiro’s voice drift among the clamor of classmates, and his heart fluttered. Was there a chance for him at the Galaxy Garrison after all? But then Mrs. Bunn opened her mouth and— 

The words pierced through his heart and he bolted out, hurt and rage blinding him that he didn’t know what he was doing. Just that he gave up, he gave up. 

He gave up. 

He didn’t expect Shiro to come after him with a smile, nor to bail him out, nor to sit with him in juvie while some papers were filled out and offer him a lunch, nor to give him a card afterwards and tell him to meet him at the Garrison at 0800 sharp the next day. 

Why did Shiro take an interest in him? 

The answer crept on him as he was falling asleep that night when the handsome face suddenly struck him as wholly and terribly familiar. He wept, his heart aching and breaking into a million tiny pieces. 

He couldn’t do this again.

⁂

Shiro was nothing short of attentive and amazing towards Keith the whole time he was at the Garrison that it was impossible not to grow attached to him, but Keith buried it deep, denying it at every turn and appearing stoic and unaffected by the fact that Shiro was giving him the moon.

But every night he wept. Shiro was so interested in him! He wanted him to succeed. 

And he was eight years older than him. Was this how the Space Goddess was seeking to destroy Keith now? 

(No, She had, possibly, found other ways.)

The age difference wouldn’t matter in time—Keith himself was sixteen, but he appeared so small others often mistook him for a preteen. His aggression more than compensated for it, but he would be lying if he said it didn’t bother him to never been taken seriously whenever Shiro took him around town. Shiro, however, only ever treated him with utmost respect. 

Yet it seemed the distant past, the numerous lifetimes, haunted Keith at every turn. His heart dropped the first day he met his instructor Roy Fokker, a star pilot who had retired after an injury. Comfort only came when he learned Mr. Fokker was already married to his beautiful wife Claudia (although being spoken for had not stopped him before.) 

Keith saw his old teammates Lance and Hunk. The last Lance he knew died a heroic death in a grand battle but remained humbled, if sarcastic, throughout. This Lance acted like a god among humans, and gods, he was _so_ annoying. And with nothing to make him stand out, no skills or good grades, he was just forgettable. All bark and no bite. 

Hunk had been kinder if a bit more skittish than his previous selves. If this was to be another lifetime of…what did they used to do again in other lifetimes? Keith couldn’t remember but no matter. Whatever it was, things weren’t looking so great. Keith tuned them both out.

*

When Keith met Shiro’s boyfriend, it seemed fate was laughing at his face yet again. Adam was a good T.A, all smiles and handsome himself but not as kind and approachable as Shiro himself.

He tried instead to focus on a different fact: this Shiro was interested in men. His heart pounded giddily as Shiro drove him to their destination: a bookstore. They were becoming fast friends, something Adam had raised an eyebrow over before nodding hesitantly and wishing Shiro a good trip. 

Shiro was rambling happily about his family and his early days at the Garrison, getting homesick, and discovering Plaht City by himself. As he rattled off places he enjoyed studying in and the best restaurants (perfect for those on a student budget), Keith dared to study his profile. 

This Shiro liked men. 

And yet, fear lingered. It wasn’t like preferring men had given Keith an edge in the fight; look at what happened in the lifetime when Roy Fokker came crashing into their world. Although, the more he recalled, didn’t Sven once like him? So why was he scared? Were they not soulmates? 

Perhaps it was the result of living through heartbreak after heartbreak in each lifetime; Keith couldn’t help but be wary of some sort of trick hiding behind a corner.

There _was_ one reason to cast doubt… 

Although Keith hadn’t thought much on it before until now. He was given a boy’s name at birth, as technology had advanced enough in human society to determine a child’s gender, unlike the old method of assigning sex at birth. Keith had always been nonetheless small due to malnutrition, which didn’t help the occasional sense of panic of his outwardly appearance to the world. And now the sudden panic: how did Shiro _really_ see him? 

Although Keith’s gender had never been a problem for him before—certainly, from everything he had read of history, he now lived in a world where being trans was met with more warmth and acceptance than centuries past—even if he had gotten in fights, no matter how nasty the taunts from the likes of James Griffin got, it was never over what he had between his legs. 

Yet now a tiny fear emerged: 

Would Shiro still desire him? Or was this a block the Space Goddess placed between them? 

They stopped at a red light, and Shiro turned to him, frowning as he noticed the trepidation on Keith’s face. 

“Something the matter, buddy?” he asked. 

Keith turned away, glancing out the window. Buddy. He smiled as the car drew back into motion. Amidst the blur on the window his reflection stared back at him, revealing a tiny, relieved smile. 

“No, I’m good, Shiro.” 

A moment later, and Keith couldn’t help approaching the question. He dared to turn back towards Shiro. “Erm, does the Garrison…will they help me with getting my testosterone injections? I mean, I wouldn’t be a problem to them, will I?”

“Keith,” Shiro said, glancing at him with a fondness he didn’t anticipate. “The Garrison has top of the line medical facilities. Anything you need, they can help you with, and it’s all covered under your education. There’s no shame if you cannot pay otherwise.” 

Keith shrunk in on himself. It wasn’t what he was concerned about, but the fact Shiro hadn’t even blink at what Keith was…

A moment later Shiro smiled. “In case you do find you need help with anything, just ask. I’ll even accompany you to your appointments if you need.” 

Keith smiled.

⁂

He had to be more careful. He was keeping Shiro away from Adam more and more frequently, and he could sense Adam's resentment towards him rising. It wasn't like he was oblivious to such things before the Garrison: the way Adam regarded him in the halls or every time Shiro and he returned from one of their trips, the way Adam graded him more harshly than the others (fine, Keith thought; he'll just give Adam no reason to mark him down), the thinly-veiled threats interwoven in his lectures.

Keith didn't care for that. Shiro chose _him_. They hung out at his favorite fast food joints. Shiro took him out to see his favorite canyons. They raced one another on their hover-bikes. Keith got to know every one of Shiro’s family members and even helped him pick out a gift for an aunt living in Japan. They stargazed well out of curfew (when he managed to sneak Keith out of grounds successfully). 

It wasn't easy for Keith to feel any shame. For the first time in his life he had a friend, and it was a friend who wasn't sick of him, who wanted the best of him, who didn't turn tail and run no matter what he knew of Keith. Adam was going to marry Shiro, so what did he have to complain? Keith was going to make use of Shiro as much as he could. Shiro had other friends: Veronica and Matt and Adam and everyone else in his graduating class. 

Keith just wanted Shiro for however long he could. If he was going to fail in this lifetime as well, then at least he was going to enjoy every moment with him.

*

Although Roy Fokker was married, Keith always feared the worst, so it was with relief to learn that Shiro too wasn’t too fond of the guy.

Keith had done such a good job in trash-talking the instructor one day early on that Shiro grew worried over his intense disdain.

“Strange,” Shiro had said. “He’s usually popular with everyone. He gave you a disciplinary action? I’ll contest it.” 

Later on Shiro had confessed to sharing Keith’s dislike for the man. 

“Why?” Keith asked, highly curious.

Shiro only shrugged. “I respect him, don’t get me wrong! He was a wonderful pilot and I do admire his skill!” he gazed up at the sunset and chuckled nervously. “This will sound weird, but something about him gives me the creeps.” 

Keith hugged his arms tighter around himself. _Of course. He murdered you in a past life._

*

When Adam dumped Shiro, Keith did not gloat or celebrate. While it was a victory—and indeed, finding Shiro always choosing to make time for Keith, over and over again, had filled him with a thrill he could not begin to comprehend and explain, to hear that his relationship had dissolved…Keith’s heart exploded with a mix of emotions: guilt, giddiness, horror, shame, and worry.

His mind had flitted back to Commander Fokker for one fearful moment, but he knew Shiro wasn’t found of the guy.

Despite everything, and as much Keith hated having hurt another person in the process, maybe he still had a chance with Shiro?

*

“I have a disease, and it’s getting worse.”

Oh. And then suddenly all the reason why Shiro spent so much time with him began to make sense. 

There was absolutely nothing to gloat about. Keith wasn’t winning some competition against Adam; he was losing Shiro against a terrible illness. Suddenly feeling as though a darkness was laughing at him, his heart shattering in his chest, Keith vowed to remain by Shiro’s side and encourage him until the launch day—and beyond. He would make it. He would live many more years, he told Shiro, whose smile was polite but didn’t reach his eyes. 

Keith was the only guest Shiro ended up bringing to the launch. Traditional guests were family and friends, but Keith had been the only one. He knew Shiro had family in Japan—Admiral Hayato Shirogane presided over at the Garrison headquarters in the Tokyo branch—but he didn’t ask Shiro lest it was a sensitive topic. He just wanted to be there for Shiro’s big day. His possibly final time in outer space. 

_No. He’s gonna make it._

*

His smile disarmed Shiro as the horns called for the astronauts to report to their station. He drew Keith into an embrace, noting the brief surprise before Keith melted in his arms. He didn’t mean to alarm his friend, but he felt so…right…in his arms. Fit right in.

“Thank you, Keith,” Shiro said. “I really appreciate your friendship. You don’t know how much I needed it.” 

“It’s no problem, Shiro,” Keith said. “You know, it was because of me that you got that nickname?” 

“Is it?” Shiro chuckled and grinned, still holding onto him; his heart hammered nervously though he couldn’t place why. 

“Yeah, when Principal Koplar first announced you were visiting, the name just came to my head. It spread throughout the school.” 

“And reached me.” Chuckling again, Shiro let go. “Guess we were destined to meet, then.” 

He thought he saw Keith’s lower lip tremble, but he quickly stilled them. 

“You’ll make it, Shiro,” Keith said, squeezing his hands tight. “I’ll wait for you. Then we can race again like always, and then we’ll go on the next mission together.” 

“Keith, I don’t think I’ll be well enough to go on another mission after this. I…don’t know if I’ll even be well enough to drive a hover-bike.” 

“ _Shiro._ ”

Now, Shiro’s own lips trembled. He squeezed Keith’s hands tightly as he sucked in a deep breath between his teeth, staring at his feet. “You’re right, I should have a little more faith in myself.” When he met Keith’s eyes again, it was through a veil of welling tears. “I love that you can fill me with a confidence I don’t have for myself.” 

And he pulled Keith into another tight hug.

⁂

PILOT ERROR

The words like electricity shook him to his core. He had been studying for an exam when the headlines for the breaking news flashed across his screen. Screaming, he rushed up to the rooftops of the Garrison where he and Shiro had sometimes hung out before, gripping the ledge and hyperventilating. Couldn’t have happened. Shiro couldn’t—

The Space Goddess. 

_“You bitch!”_ Keith screamed into the night, rage consuming him. He was too young—they were both still too young. And Shiro was ill. Why— _Why_ —couldn’t She leave Shiro alone? 

“Just let him live through this, damn you, you fucking cunt!” Keith screamed into the night. 

Heaving, he fell to his knees. This was his final chance. And should he lose Shiro in this life, he would cease to exist. 

That was the condition he had made to the Space Goddess. 

“Fuck. Hell.” 

Hand pressed against his head as panic rose up— _I don’t want to disappear!_ —that was when another emotion seeped in: like the first break of daylight after the dark, a tiny spark of hope, an inexplicable understanding. 

Shiro wasn’t dead. 

Frowning, Keith read the article. Reread it. Read more reports. Something wasn’t right. 

“Shiro beat all of Fokker’s records by a mile,” Keith mumbled to himself. “I know Shiro. He passed his physicals—this report says he didn’t, but I know he did! He was capable of being in space! This can’t be pilot error! This…there’s something more!” 

In the end, being kicked out of the Galaxy Garrison wasn’t too bad. Although Shiro would have been heartbroken to learn that, and the humiliation Keith had to endure as Roy Fokker looked on with disgust and Adam with a grim smile, another matter lay ahead. Something far greater than the stupid Galaxy Garrison. 

It was Shiro. It was…something else. Something from Keith’s past lives that he desperately tried to grasp every night while at the shack in the middle of the desert. Madness fueled him for months on end piecing together a puzzle of his past and the future. His hand always found itself sketching up drawings of mechanical lions, guided by some intuition. Something was out there. Something that connected to Shiro. 

Shiro returned, just as the pieces of Keith’s puzzles had predicted. They laid eyes on the Blue Lion and memories of other lifetimes came back: they met Princess Allura and Coran, and he remembered all the times Allura had sought after him. It was a small relief she had no interest in him this time around, but then—

It was happening again. The five lions. Zarkon. Voltron. Haggar. 

Everything was happening differently. Grander. More dangerous. And Shiro was always so close, his best friend who the whole universe seemed determined to pry from his hands. It fed Keith a fierce determination to protect Shiro at every turn, even if it meant putting himself at risk. If it meant Shiro would survive it, it was worth it every time. 

And Shiro always returned the favor, saving him from Zarkon, stepping in when Keith was near collapsing at the Blade trials. Never had their lives crossed and melded this intimately before. They were so close, _so close_ , to being together. 

And then Shiro disappeared. Right from within the cockpit of the Black Lion. 

For months Keith thought he had lost his mind—reliving the nightmares of his previous lives, now doubled by the terror of his new challenge to the Space Goddess— _I don’t want to disappear!_ —until the Black Lion found Shiro floating in a Galra fighter in the middle of nowhere. 

Something was different about him, and to Keith’s dismay he wasn’t as kind towards Keith as he remembered. A few times they clashed over Keith’s leadership, which Shiro himself had wanted Keith to pick up should anything happen to him, and Keith found himself eyeing the Blade of Marmora again. 

It would be like Sven breaking off to be with the rebels, but this time it was Keith leaving the team. And Shiro could remain a paladin. Keith smiled sadly as he, donned in his Blade suit, walked away from the Black Lion. 

Maybe a little bit of distance would also fix the tension between them.

⁂

“Keith, I’m worried for you.”

“It’s fine,” Keith insisted. Time spent on the space-whale had meant being able to catch up on lost time with his mother (it still felt weird to think of her like that), but it also meant many secrets had been exposed, along with—

“Please, I know what happened to my husband,” Krolia said. “I don’t want to lose you too.” 

Keith’s heart filled with warmth. 

She sat beside him and looked out, checking to make certain they weren’t about to get struck by another blast from the time vortex. 

“You didn’t inform the paladins that you contracted an illness during a mission?” 

“No,” Keith said, and his hands balled into nervous fists . “Shiro already is sick. I don’t want him to worry, and Kolivan doesn’t think I’ll be in danger. As long as I’m careful, I guess.” 

“Shiro,” Krolia repeated. “You keep talking about him, and I keep seeing memories of you two. Many of them. What is he to you?” 

“My...friend—best friend,” Keith stammered out quickly. “Like a brother.” 

Krolia’s smile told him she didn’t believe a lick of that. 

“Oh? Okay.”

*

Later that night, while her son slept, the time vortex sent to Krolia many visions, all from the future, and none of which made sense: Keith battling Shiro on a distant moon base—Keith rousing Shiro from death—battles—a dead princess—dead Keith—“No!” Krolia almost screamed but stopped herself, and then, while her heart still pounded, another vision: Shiro and Keith at their wedding, the princess among them—Shiro and Keith both far in the future, older and still together. Children amongst them.

Confused but shaken, she prayed to the ancient gods for her son’s safety.

⁂

Keith knew it was coming. With resignation, learning that Shiro had betrayed the team, Keith sought after him. He already knew he had to pilot the Black Lion once more; he’d seen in a vision.

Knowing so much of what the future held, as well as the time spent with his mother, had help to keep his cool, and yet, so close to death with Shiro’s eyes glaring into his, about to kill him, the emotions bubbled out of him. 

“I love you.” 

Shiro’s eyes widened, the mind-control broken for a moment, but it was all was needed to win the fight. 

And with a fastly-breaking heart he sliced off the bionic arm which had been the link to Shiro’s mind control. 

The time on the space whale had prepared him for this confrontation. But nothing prepared him to learn that all this time he was fighting a clone. The real Shiro was dead after all. 

And yet, he would not give up. He had Shiro’s spirit trapped in the Black Lion; he could feel Shiro coursing through him along with the Lion’s quintessence. He had a body Shiro could live in, as the clone was barely alive. He had an Altean who was a Life Giver. 

There was a way. He wasn’t going to let the Space Goddess win. 

And when Shiro—his Shiro—opened his eyes and peered up at him, pride and admiration written all over his gaze, Keith’s heart swelled. 

“Keith, you found me.” 

Keith smiled. Feeling invincible, a bit of Shiro’s own quintessence have coursed through him, Keith dared the Space Goddess to try and pry them apart now.

⁂

How did it happen like this?

Everything had been going so well. Perhaps even too well. Ever since he had returned from death, Shiro and Keith had been giving one another the eye, exhilarated by their own emotions. Even Krolia was glancing at them and smiling, and it got to Shiro— _especially_ after his mother caught them about to kiss one night—to the point that he requested to move to Pidge’s Lion and remained there until they reached Earth. 

Virtually everyone could feel the attraction between them. 

They remained at each other’s side throughout on Earth. And the way he smiled when Keith swept down to save him from Sendak, the way the other paladins had grouped around them, cheering them on. It was one of the happiest moments of his life, and had he not worn his helmet and been worried for Shiro’s wellbeing, he was certain they would have kissed in front of them. 

Keith would have liked to think it was because of him especially that triggered Shiro’s panic which resulted in him tapping into Atlas’s transformation. Of course, it had to have been watching all of Voltron, all of the paladins, near death—a painful reminder of his previous life—but later on Keith clung to the thought it was because of _him_. 

After all, Shiro never told him. He never visited Keith at the hospital. 

It was as if the explosion while fighting that Komar Robeast had landed Keith into some bizarre alternate universe. 

He had approached Shiro, and Shiro had smiled warmly at him, but that was it. 

“He might be shaken up, dear,” Krolia had said. “He lost Adam, and he almost lost you. He doesn’t want to go through it again.” 

“I guess you’re right,” Keith said and sighed heavily. He just had to give it time, give Shiro space. But it meant being alone when Shiro had said “spend it with the ones you love”. It meant breaking away from him, putting the mission above all else, even when he felt Shiro’s slightest hint at wanting him to join him at the carnival. 

It was weird. He could still feel Shiro’s warmth in the way he looked at him, and yet…something was missing. Why was he suddenly so scared? Why was everything so weird? He feared some trickery was about by the Space Goddess, but there was nothing to suggest it, until—

Realities collapsed around them—

Allura died—

Realities restored. 

And a couple years later, while in the middle of setting up for a Blade meeting, Keith got a call. Shiro’s bright and handsome face appeared and delivered the news. 

It was as if he had struck Keith with his own blade right through his heart.

⁂

How did it happen?

Keith stood, scowling and arms folded throughout the entire cursed wedding procession. 

How the damn hell did it happen? 

He vaguely recognized Shiro’s groom as someone from the Atlas bridge, and the man regarded Keith with a maliciously smug grin that mirrored Roy’s own from another lifetime. Shiro, snatched right under Keith’s nose yet again. 

How? _How?_ How did they go from about to kiss in front of their team in the heat of battle to _this?_

He knew he had to look away when it came to the kiss—damn the smug bastard as he lunged towards his soulmate like a serpent—but he couldn’t look away, rooted to the spot and horrified. 

This was the Space Goddess’s doing. After trying to kill off Shiro for so long, after trying to rip him and Shiro apart, to the point of making Keith Galra, part of the people who had tormented Shiro, as a last-ditch effort, she sent in a serpent to hoodwink and sway his soulmate away from Keith.

He was going to disappear from all of existence. She wouldn’t have to deal with him again. 

And Allura. Allura was dead. Punished for not going after Keith. Punished for loving the wrong man. Punished for loving the _right_ man. 

He couldn’t remain here any longer. 

Turning away, each step like trying to will lead to move, he slipped away unnoticed. He nearly broke down once out of earshot, falling to his knees, wishing he could call for his mother, before mentally kicking himself and dragging himself back to his feet. 

Slipping back into the Black Lion, Keith flew back to the Beginning. Finding his way there by himself had nearly crushed him under the pressure of flying under realities. 

But he found her. Shocked, startled, he almost couldn’t move at the sight of Allura, her form slowly coalescing back. How to get to her? 

He slowly inched his Lion towards her when the Black Lion roared, its eyes glowing bright. Gasping, Keith gripped onto his controls. 

“Easy,” he said. “I just need to get to Allura—oh!” 

He felt the Black Lions’s quintessence seep into the coalescing form, and then there were several more beams: blue and yellow and green and red. 

“You followed me,” Keith gasped. Fumbling with the communicator, he called for Shiro, and when Shiro didn’t answer, he called for Pidge, Hunk, Lance.

No one replied. The other Lions had followed on their own. Keith was alone. 

Not completely alone. When he dismounted his Lion, his feet hit solid ground although he couldn’t see any end to the drop below his feet; all around him were the endless rows, bright strands of realities. In the middle was the coalescing form, the shape fast sealing back into the young woman who gave her entire life for all of existence, revived thanks to the quintessence of the five Lions. 

Keith turned back and nodded to them, said, “Thank you,” then rushed over, collecting Allura into his arms. Flashes of memories—their previous lives—he had once or twice tried to love her—and he wept on her shoulder, holding her tight. 

“Allura!” he wept. “Allura! We all love and need you! Lance never found another! Coran hasn’t been the same—none of us have! We—”

“Keith!” Allura gasped, looking about her, dazed and confused. “W-what’s going on?” 

“Allura, this isn’t right,” Keith said. “Something’s happened to our reality. You weren’t supposed to die. We have to—change time, go back, redo this.” 

Allura’s eyebrows knitted. “Are you sure?” 

Keith nodded solemnly. “I’ve seen my future, back when I was on that time-whale with my mother. This isn’t it. Everything is going to break. Allura, we need you! The whole team needs to remain together! Shiro and I…”

“You’re not together,” Allura said, and the confusion set even more. 

“You know about that?” 

Allura nodded. “I’ve seen all realities, Keith. I’ve glimpsed our past lives. Something seems wrong in all of them. But I’ll see what I can do.” 

She placed her hand on their strand of reality when both felt the Space Goddess’s cold voice reverberate in their skulls. 

_“Do this, and your disease will progress.”_

“Disease?” Allura gasped and turned back to Keith. “You’re unwell, Keith?” 

“Allura, just do it!” Keith begged. “If we don’t fix this, I’ll cease to exist!” 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” 

“Yes!” Keith wept. “ _Please_ , I just want to be with him, even if means I will die! I just want to be with Shiro!” 

Tears glowed in Allura’s eyes but she turned back, her hand glowing on the strand. “Keith, your hand!” she cried out, her arm extending out for him, and he ran and grabbed a hold of her just as the light overtook them.

###### Retake: As Many Times As It Takes

“Keith, I think I was cured from my disease!” 

With nothing but the wide outer space for endless miles, Keith turned his attention away from the dashboard to regard Shiro. After all, he knew what point in the past they had returned to. Time to redo everything the right way. He took Shiro’s hand in his. “That’s great!” 

“I think it had something to do with my clone body,” Shiro said. “Haggar must have healed it so it wasn’t as sick as my original one.” 

Keith smiled sadly to himself, knowing his own illness as about to go into full swing at some point. But if it meant that Shiro was going to outlive him, then all the better. 

“I’m happy to hear that, Shiro!” 

Shiro grinned, his gaze lingering, eyes full of warmth and a need. Feeling daring, Keith tugged on Shiro’s arm, beckoning him closer. 

And then that was when Krolia stepped in. 

“Oh! Sorry!” she said hastily and left, but it was enough to break the mood as Shiro’s face bloomed a deep red. Keith felt the tension under his hands. 

“Shiro, no!” he quickly said. He wasn’t getting away this time. “My mom said so many great things about you. She…she likes you, okay? She’d be okay with us. More than okay.” 

Chuckling lightly, embarrassed, Shiro dipped his head down, but when he looked back up, his eyes glimmered. “I…Keith…I remember what you told me—my clone—on the moon—”

“Those words were for you, Shiro.” 

“I love you, Keith.” 

And his lips captured Keith’s. 

Shiro stayed in the Black Lion. Later, after Krolia stayed behind to be with Kolivan, with the Black Lion all to themselves and only Kosmo to shoo away for much-needed intimacy, they shed off their clothes, eager and horny and needing and very deeply in love. And as Shiro buried himself deep in Keith, Keith’s name, a passionate litany, riding the waves of his shuddering climax, Keith gave a middle finger to the cosmos outside his dashboard. 

They entered Earth hand-in-hand, and that was when Keith’s real work began, doing all he could to eliminate Shiro crossing paths with the serpent. Perhaps he was losing his mind, but he knew what was at stake. He couldn’t fail. 

Allura had come to him privately at one point, reminding him that she remembered their life before the reset. 

“I can heal you,” she said. But Keith shook his head. 

“I think I have to be sick in Shiro’s place,” Keith said. “It’s okay.” 

He left, and couldn’t help grinning smugly after passing by the labs. He could hear his opponent loudly complaining about failing his drug screening, thus not being allowed on the Atlas. 

“This has to be a mistake! I didn’t—!” 

“I highly recommend Acxa when she catches up to us,” Keith said brightly to Shiro later, smiling towards Veronica. “Geglex from Olia’s party can be her counterpart!” 

“Oh, why Acxa and not a Garrison personnel…?” Shiro began before shrugging and jotting the name down for reference.

*

Everything was going right this time. Shiro and he strategized together. Keith worked to bridge and heal the relationship between Shiro—first Captain Shirogane, then later Admiral Shirogane—with the other Admiral Shirogane in the Garrison branch in Tokyo. They kissed before all the paladins when Keith saved him from Sendak. When Keith woke up in the hospital, it was to Shiro holding his hand.

When the doctor informed Keith privately that his liver tests had come back abnormal, he only nodded. _I’d rather it’s me instead of him_ , he thought. 

He and Shiro spent their final days on Earth on the Black Lion, reminiscing the day Shiro left on the Kerberos mission, and their first hug, and then both laughed when Lance crashed their moment together, but Keith forgave him, charmed to just sit back and listen as Lance received relationship advice from his hero. If this meant Allura and Lance were getting together, as they should, it was all for the better. 

They made time throughout the period up in space to just be together, lost in one another’s arms. They must have been caught in one another’s arms by the security cameras from the way Nadia and Ryan kept looking at them after a point, but he didn’t care. They spent time together in the carnival, the first time Keith had ever gotten to enjoy a carnival until he got windswept away by someone he thought who looked like Haggar. 

And then the day came when they faced Honerva. When Allura, despite knowing how it would end, still chose to sacrifice herself.

But the strange spell that they were all under from before wasn’t there anymore. Keith was the first to break through. 

“No, Allura. There’s always another way.” 

“Keith’s right,” Shiro said. “We can—what if we all sacrificed ourselves. Together?” 

Hunk hiccuped and whimpered, “Mom…” before straightening his back. “I’ll do it!” 

“Yeah, if it means saving everyone…” Pidge said in a small voice. 

“I can’t see you go alone,” Lance added and held out his hand. Smiling tearfully, she took his hand. Keith took hers, then Shiro took his, until they had formed a circle. Their quintessence flowed through them, when suddenly they all heard roars—five lion roars. 

Honerva was standing, watching them with a sad expression. “No. This was my doing. I will go. And…”

Looking behind them, her eyebrows knitted with her frown, she addressed their lions. “If you will follow me, then very well. This entire mess started with us and will end with us!” 

And all six of them watched, Hunk holding onto Pidge, Lance holding Allura, and Shiro with his arms tightly around Keith, as five massive lion spirits followed Honerva towards the light and a great burst of wind threatened to blow them off their feet. 

“Whoa—wait! How are we getting back?” Lance yelled over the howling wind. “We’re not getting stuck in the Beginning forever, are we?” 

Allura wept. “No, no, no, please!” 

_“Allura,”_ a voice echoed above them. _“Thank you.”_

And then all went black.

⁂

Keith gripped the walls as his stomach lurched, his chest and stomach feeling like fire. His throat burned as if he’d swallowed coals. Gasping, he flushed the toilet and peeled himself away, still gripping his stomach. Blood. All that came out was blood.

The disease was getting worse, just as he was warned. 

Leaning against the wall, he wept bitterly until all the emotions drained from him.

“I’ll be fine,” he told himself. “I’ll be fine. Just a few more. Just a few more…days...” 

Dragging himself back to his feet, he washed his hands, splashed water on his face—not much else he could to hide the bloodshot eyes—and returned to his friends. 

One month had passed since Honerva saved all of reality, and his disease was already spiraling out of control. He settled by Shiro and smiled brightly as he was offered a traditional Altean summer drink.

*

“Hey man, the wedding’s in three days!” Lance laughed excitedly, clapping Keith on the back as he joined his friends at the breakfast table. A light breeze passed through the Altean flags high above them.

Shiro had proposed to him one year after the Lions had sacrificed themselves. After Honerva and the lions restored all reality, they had mere minutes to pilot their soulless lions back to safety, after which they realized Honerva had also restored all of the planets previously destroyed. 

“Gee, you’d think she’d think to bring back the people as well,” Lance had said after the team and Coran had examined around Altea in shock and wonder. 

One year later and they had heard the lions roaring back to life, a beautiful moment shared by the original seven. It had seen such a pleasant spring evening after the team had gathered around to celebrate Honerva Day, all about a woman who had redeemed herself by bringing back so much to the world. 

“Beautiful!” Allura had wept as the lions had roared. “What do you suppose this means?” 

“The spirit is forever,” Shiro had said. “Just like my love for you, Keith.” And then he had gotten on one knee and proposed to him in front of everyone. 

Coran and Hunk bawled. 

Keith forced on a smile at Lance’s words. “Yeah.”

“Nervous?” Lance asked without any malice in his tone. He was practically hopping in his seat. “You seem more pale as the day gets nearer.” 

“No.” 

“You should hear the Garrison,” Hunk laughed. “So many envy you, Keith! There’s one in particular who cannot stop talking about it.” 

“Hunk,” Pidge warned. “I think that jerk would kill Keith if he could.” 

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Keith said, having a pretty good idea who it might be. “Should we keep him out?”

“Nah,” Allura said and gave Keith a knowing wink. “Let him stew over seeing you and Shiro kiss!” 

Keith’s smile was short lived. “Allura…I need to speak with you for a moment.” 

“You’re…what, no!” Allura gasped after Keith confessed to her later on, well out of earshot from the others. “Keith, have you told your mother this? Or Shiro?” 

“No,” Keith answered, “and I won’t. I don’t want either of them to worry, especially not Shiro—Allura, don’t try to change my mind!” 

Allura stepped back, studying Keith worryingly. 

“Listen, there’s no cure for my illness. I checked. And even if we could attempt anything for it, I’m worried it’ll just hurt Shiro. I’d rather it’ll be me, okay? Allura, I remember nearly ten lives of losing Shiro. I want him to—to—to—” he sucked in a deep breath, steadying his nerves, “to outlive me for once.” 

Allura embraced him just as the final words sputtered out. He gripped her tight, allowing himself this moment of vulnerability. After all, they both shared a secret no one else was privy to, not even Shiro. 

“Keith, I’m sorry,” Allura whispered. 

“Just promise me one thing,” Keith said. “Don’t let Shiro marry another. I know this sounds very selfish of me, but I’ve suffered through nearly ten lifetimes to try to get to this point. I can’t keep fighting to keep him. I have to make this right.”

*

The wedding took place on Altea, hosted in the Castle, as Admiral Takashi Shirogane and Captain Keith Koh (soon to be Keith Shirogane) were also paladins of Voltron, they could claim the planet as their home.

Visitors came from all over, from Earth and Daibazaal and all of the planets they had helped over the years. 

As Keith prepared for the big event, the song from his player shifted, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. Recognizing the lyrics, he shivered, then stilled, listening to the words carefully.

 _It’s beautiful_ , he thought with a sad smile. _No wonder why Krik sang it to his child so long ago. But it’s also so sad._

Like having obtained a peace after so long a hardship.

A song about his own life…his _lives_. 

Pushing back the tears, he hit pause on the music player and left his room. 

Keith saw a flash of salt-and-pepper hair before General Takara Shirogane, Shiro’s mother, embraced him, happy to finally meet her son’s groom. She set aside for Keith to shake hands with Admiral Hayato Shirogane, who he had corresponded with before. There was also Shiro’s aunt Akane and her wife Yuuna, and Shiro’s younger brother Ryou who Keith was especially delighted to see again. 

The wedding ceremony went without a hitch, and though aches and pains flared every now and again, Keith was happy to ignore on the basis that he was here, with Shiro, and they were about to get married. 

He saw his losing opponent somewhere in the vast crowd, a tiny speck—what even was his name again?—and smirking, Keith made certain to give Shiro the best and most passionate kiss before every pair of eyes present. To his triumph, Shiro kissed him back just as passionately, none of that lurching back as if anticipating to get bitten by a snake. 

The crowd around them cheered (Lance did that annoying whistle with his thumb and index finger shoved in his mouth), but Keith laughed and laughed as they parted and glanced out, suddenly filled with more kisses from Shiro around his neck, checks, jaws. 

Looking out, he could just make out his jealous opponent storming away. 

_Good. Fuck off. He’s mine._

One little victory. Time to enjoy what time he had remaining before the inevitable. 

The rest of the wedding went wonderfully, the happiest he could ever remember. Lance, naturally, caught the bouquet, nearly climbing over James Griffin in order to accomplish that. He immediately proposed to Allura.

“Finally!” Pidge called out, who was already engaged to Hunk. 

At the table Keith and Shiro heard more tales from Pidge and Hunk as they excitedly spoke about a planet they’ve been visiting together. 

“Highly technologically-advanced ninjas, can you imagine that?” Hunk said, nearly squealing with glee. 

“What’s the name of this planet again?” Shiro asked. 

“Balto!” the couple said in unison. 

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. “Sounds familiar…” 

He glanced up at the reception area. He and Shiro weren’t much for dancing (in truth, Keith was feeling too weak), but the dancing area was filled with other couples: Lance and Allura, of course, and then there were James and Ina, Nadia and Ryan, Akane with Yuuna, and even Shiro’s parents. Veronica was trying to coax Acxa into the dance floor, which Keith thought was adorable. Ryou, to his delight, had even asked Romelle for a dance. The stars were realigning. 

There were even some members of the team Pidge had been working alongside. A new Voltron, a new era. He spotted a guy he knew to be named Jeff dancing with Commander Hawkins and glanced down, smiling sadly. For once, he harbored no ill feelings towards him. This time, everyone will get their happy endings. Even Keith, if for a short while. 

Shiro scooped more cake from his own plate and offered it to Keith when agonizing pain jolted through his stomach. Pain flashed through his eyes, and Shiro must have noticed, because he set the fork down and touched Keith’s shoulders. 

“Keith, everything okay?” 

“I feel…weak…” Keith confessed, anxious, and slowly got to his feet. He made for the washroom, Shiro close behind. His legs wobbled; was it going to happen this soon? He tried not to burst into tears, suddenly feeling like a terrified three old child wanting his mother to hold him, but he pushed through. 

“Keith, what’s wrong, baby?” Shiro asked and Keith’s heart nearly crushed in his chest as he reached the basin just in time. Shiro screamed and gripped the doorway as blood splattered the floor, the basin, and Keith fell to his knees. 

_“KEITH!”_

“Shiro—” Keith choked out. “Shiro—I’m—f-f-f-fine—” 

_“You’re not fine—you’re not fine—oh my God what’s all this blood?!”_

Keith struggled back, trying to get Shiro to stop screaming—really, it wasn’t so bad, couldn’t he see? But then the world around him blurred and went black, and the last thing he remembered was falling right in Shiro’s arms and Shiro’s screams filled the entire Castle as he called for help and called for Allura. 

Keith’s bluing lips perked. At least he would die during the happiest day of his life.

⁂

“Keith.” He heard his name spoken, repeated, and warm lips pressed against his knuckles. Opening his eyes he saw Shiro hunched over, his shoulders quivering with his grief. Around him was everyone: the paladins, Coran, Krolia, Kosmo, Kolivan, Romelle, Shiro’s family.

Everyone who loved him. And everyone who was about to watch him die. 

_On the happiest day of my life._

“Keith…” 

Keith made a hushing sound as he pulled Shiro close to him, “It’s okay…I knew it was going to happen.”

Pidge blew into her handkerchief. They were all still dressed in their wedding best. “What do you mean?” 

The truth had to come out, and so, lying there, with his heart’s beat slowing, Keith recounted everything to them. The entire room drew into silence, broken only by occasional sniffles. None spoke, too shocked, too startled, by Keith’s story. 

Keith told them everything, of their first life, of losing Takashi, his pain, his fight with the Space Goddess, and all of the lifetimes he had since suffered. He told of this lifetime, of what could have been, and Lance’s face had drained of all color at the thought of losing Allura forever. 

Shiro listened to every word, his eyes wide, eyebrows knitted in confusion—“No, how—how could I stop being your friend so suddenly?—why would I ever marry someone other than you? I don’t understand—Keith, what’s happening?” 

Allura bowed her head. “It’s true. I saw our past lives.” 

“Keith, Allura, why don’t I remember this?” Shiro asked. “None of my past lives?” 

“Souls are eternal,” Allura explained. “We die and are reborn in the next life—that typically means the next universe that comes after this. We often don’t remember our past lives. It’s to stop us from going mad. We’ve lived many more lives before this moment, and we will live many more after this. And, as you’ve seen already, there are many more versions of us living out there in different realities. 

“But you two, you’re soulmates—you were meant to walk between one lifetime to the next.”

“And in my grief after you died, I messed that bond up. Because I angered a Goddess.” Keith’s smile shown with caked blood. “We didn’t get to walk together. And every lifetime, although we met—in most of them—things always happened to take you away from me. Because I was punished. I’m sorry, Shiro.” 

Shiro shook his head as his eyes welled up again. “It’s okay, Keith. I’m here now.” 

He squeezed Keith’s hand. 

“I’m sorry, Shiro. I made a deal. My life for yours.” 

Shiro shook his head. “No, no…Keith, no! There has to be another way!” 

“I do not regret what I have done,” Keith said softly, smiling weakly up at him. “I would rather it was me this time.”

“ _No_ ,” Shiro gasped, eyes wet with tears. “Why, Keith?” 

“You deserved a chance for once. _We_ deserved a chance. Everything I have done up until this moment, was for you, for us, to fix the many mistakes we have made in our lives. You have no idea how hard I strived to make this happen—how many lifetimes I went through to see this play out. I just wanted to be yours again. 

“Live well, Takashi. I love you.”

###### We Save Each Other

“Keith…” Shiro wept softly, never letting go of his hand. “Please, no…”

But he watched, rooted to the spot in frozen fear, as light dimmed, then went completely out, from Keith’s eyes. 

“Keith, no! _No!_ ” 

Strolling slowly to his side, Krolia placed her hand over her son’s eyes and closed them. Kolivan bowed his head. Neither Galra spoke, but mourning erupted around them. Coran bawled loudly until someone took pity for him and embraced him. Lance fell into the chair behind him, eyes as tiny pupils. Pidge buried her face in Hunk’s chest. Shiro barely registered the tiny scream from his mother, nor his father ushering her out. 

Allura’s body trembled as she came up beside Shiro and embraced him. 

“I’m so sorry, Shiro!” she said. 

“No, no!” Shiro kept saying, staring at Keith, eyes wide and shocked. “No, how did this happen? How?! Keith— _KEITH_! Open your eyes!” 

“Shiro, he’s gone, I’m so sorry…” 

_“HOW?!”_

Rising to his feet, Shiro grabbed Allura’s arms, nearly crushing her. “How?! How did we allow this to happen? How did _I_ allow this to happen?” 

“Shiro, please—” 

“Where is the Space Goddess? How do I get to Her?” 

Allura gasped. “Shiro, you mustn’t!” 

By this point the other paladins had turned to Shiro, but he didn’t take note of the concerned look on their faces, the way their grief turned to concern and fear for him. He could only see Keith’s lifeless form on the bed—it was supposed to be their wedding bed—and Allura who stood staring at Shiro wide-eyed. 

“The Beginning, was it? That’s where he found you before? Maybe She’s there! The Lions! They’re back so I can get back to her that way! Or-or I can take the Atlas!”

“Shiro!” Allura wept. She chased him out of the room—he barely noticed his own family huddled nearby, nor his brother calling after him—he had to get Keith back!—and rushed out to the wide open field where the Lions now rested. 

“Please!” he begged the Black Lion as he placed his hand on one giant metallic claw. “Keith has passed away—help me get him back! We once had a deep bond. _Please_ , let me pilot you one more time!” 

He was ready for it to not work—for then he would need to take all of the Atlas, and what crew would agree to go with him?—when then the Black Lion’s eyes lit up. 

“Shiro, you mustn’t!” Allura’s voice sounded behind him. 

“Allura, don’t you dare leave his side!” Shiro screamed behind his shoulder. “You’re a Life Giver! Heal him! Keep him alive!” He chuckled; sure Allura will understand this! “Back on Earth we have a thing called resuscitation. It’s similar to what you can do, but without magic. Keep his body alive! I’m bringing his spirit back! You can do that, reunite his body and spirit, can’t you? You did to me and I was dead for months!” 

“Shiro, no! He made me promise!” Allura begged and threw herself by his feet. “He’s terrified he’ll disappear forever if something gets messed up—he made a deal with the Space Goddess! He got you back and he doesn’t want that to change! He hopes it will alter your futures!” 

Shiro squeezed his eyes closed, then regarded Allura with the first signs of sensibility she had seen in him since Keith’s passing. “Allura…just trust me.”

Pulling away from her grip, he mounted into the Black Lion and sped off. 

The Black Lion knew where to take him. Finding the familiar strands of reality, Shiro’s eyebrows knitted. “So, the Space Goddess is here? Where is Keith?” 

The Black Lion sped down the seemingly endless rows of realities, the light blinding, until his vision saw only black, and then a voice reached him. 

_“I was growing used to seeing the other half for so long.”_

Gasping, Shiro looked about him, scanned his dashboard, before suddenly feeling his entire body thrown out of the Lion. 

“No!” 

Landing on heavy ground, despite still existing in the middle of space he scrambled quickly back to his feet and looked around. A scream bubbled to his lips when he noticed the small wrapped form of a beautiful soul a little ways off: Keith. 

“Keith!” He made for him only for a tall figure to stand before him, blocking the way. 

_“Takashi Shirogane.”_

Shiro locked with the Goddess’s blazing eyes for a moment before quickly averting his gaze. 

“Please, revered Space Goddess,” Shiro said. He pressed his hands together and bowed. “I come seeking to bring back my husband.” 

_“Funny you should come seeking him now. You had never sought him after your deaths before.”_

Shiro frowned and glanced up. “Why was that so, Space Goddess? Are we not soulmates? Should we not walk together between every lifetime?” 

_“Because I’ve pulled you apart.”_

Flashes of his past flew through his mind. Gasping, Shiro fell to his knees as every single lifetime replayed through his mind. His chest clenched, recalling another time when he was Takashi Shirogane, when he proposed to Keith—his Akira—up in space, admiring how the stars glimmered against the tiny gems on his ring. 

He watched his younger brother Ryou who loved Amue, who Shiro, later Sven, had then become entangled with time and time again. He watched as Keith yearned for him from a distance. 

He cried out, remembering the last few moments of his life before Roy ran the blade across his throat. He gasped, his heart feeling like it dropped to the ground, upon realizing that in the very last lifetime together, he had looked up to Keith when he was but an elderly man and he, Shiro, a mere child.

How could the Space Goddess have been so cruel? 

And where had he been between each lifetime? Why hadn’t he and Keith walked between worlds as they were meant to? 

He searched for the Space Goddess’s eyes. _Why did you hurt me so much? Why did you hurt_ us _so much?_

“Let him go. He’s broken through your spell. I’ve fallen in love with him, as we were meant to,” Shiro said. “Everything’s fixed. Now let him go.”

 _“He will not dissolve,”_ the Space Goddess promised, _“if that is what you are worried about. Although we can make a deal.”_

Shiro chuckled as he took a few steps closer towards the Space Goddess. “I’m sorry, but you are speaking with a man who has learned to never trust anyone besides his closest friends after being hurt throughout this life.” He gripped the Space Goddess by the throat and glared into her eyes, the pleasantries suddenly gone from his face. “This ends now! Give him back and fix our lifetimes!” 

Everything around him grew tense as if pressure pressed against him, but Shiro, crying out, sent jolts through his bionic arm and to the Space Goddess. 

“Champion?” a voice called out behind him. “What brought you here.” 

Shiro’s eyes widened. “Honerva?” 

He didn’t dare tear his eyes away from the Space Goddess lest this was a trick. 

“Is that really you, Honerva?” 

“It is. I and the lions have been holding the realities steady until their work was done. Now it has become my job. I’ve become the Keeper of the Realities.” 

“Then you’ll know the story of Keith and myself.” 

“I…do.”

Shiro sucked in a heavy breath. “Are we doing all right in the other realities?” 

He didn’t miss out the hesitation from her voice. 

“Honerva? Answer me!” 

“You cannot trust the Space Goddess.” 

_“You would listen to the witch who made you this way?”_ the Space Goddess hissed at Shiro. _“I have the power to wipe you and Keith from all of existence, from every reality, completely!”_

Pain erupted in Shiro’s chest, and he screamed, nearly dropping to his knees. His eyes darted back to Keith, eyes widening in horror; Keith flickered as if he were a light about to go out. 

“Takashi Shirogane, allow me to access your quintessence once more,” Honerva called out behind him. “Let me help you! I am the Life Giver of all Realities now!” 

Shiro’s breath shuddered. “You’ll…become the new Space Goddess…” he said under his breath. He nodded and spoke louder, “I’m all yours, Honerva!” 

Surge of energy coursed through him, more intense than anything he had ever felt. Bellowing with rage, fueled with power, he cast his energies against the Space Goddess. 

Flashes of other realities sped through his mind.

*

Sven waking up from a nightmare, and Slav shaking his head amusedly. They were in Space Hospital. An attack; they had to get out. Sven pulled out his gun, ready to blast through the army of Alteans. An explosion came from the side, and he somersaulted away from danger, only to end up staring at a beautiful man, half-Galra and with a red sash across his purple suit.

“Keith?” Sven stammered out. 

The man’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “Er, sorry, I’m not Keith. Name’s Akira Kogane. I’m with Alliance.” 

“Some of the Galra _have_ survived!” Slav said as he came up. 

Akira smiled. “And many more of who the Alteans think they’ve destroyed. We’re gathering as many allies as we can. Will you join us?” 

Sven smiled and took Akira’s offered hand. “Of course, Akira!”

*

Takako Shirogane pored through the reports, a pen in one hand and a mug nearby as the coffee lay, abandoned. She kept reading the same line in the reports, barely registering anything.

And then the call came, and the image sprung up on the screen. She gasped as Akira shown on the screen. Her wife. The Admiral’s wife. 

“Takako, do you copy?” Akira cried out. “Takako?!” 

“Akira! It’s so good to hear your voice!” she jumped to her feet, upsetting her mug and papers, but she didn’t care. The whole crew had been so sure the explorer team had gone missing. 

Akira chuckled. “Yeah. I thought we were done for! Pidge has a full report to give when we make a landing.” 

Laughing, she rushed to the screen, beaming at her wife, whose eyes shown with affection as they studied one another. _Good to have you back._

*

“Wha—” he cried out and fell back on his knees, his arms thrown out just as the hover-bike flew at him. His eyes fell on a pair of burning, passionate eyes of the young pilot. They widened as they locked gaze with his. A moment later, and the hover-bike did not strike him has he had feared, but instead flew right over his head, missing the tip of his nose by a hairline.

But more significant was the jolt, the sudden realization, that passed between them, as an epiphany struck them. The meeting of soulmates. 

Recovering quickly, he got to his feet, all the while hearing his commanding officer’s loud complaint about the hijacker. But Shiro was smiling as he dusted himself and resumed the hunt. 

Who was that handsome Altean?

Finding him, Shiro ran up. The smaller Altean gasped and fell over the hover-bike. 

“Hey!” Shiro called out. 

The Altean tried to get away, but Shiro was quicker, placing a hand on each side so that the Altean was trapped between the hover-bike and Shiro’s large body. 

“Where’d you learn to fly like that?” Shiro asked, full of admiration. 

The Altean—he must have also had Galra blood the more Shiro looked at him—simply regarded him.

“Where are my manners?” Shiro laughed, feeling his pointy ears redden. “My name is Shiro.” 

“Keith,” the Altean responded simply, eyeing him.

*

Shiro blinked back the tears. Over and over he watched as realities realigned themselves. There were realities where he could recognize himself and Keith. There were realities where he could scarcely believe that they were there. Realities where they were a pitbull and a kitten, or realities where Voltron never existed and they existed under different names. They were superheroes in some realities, hackers attempting to take down an oppressive government, and in one—Shiro’s heart clenched as he witnessed the events unfold in his mind’s eye—as the Keith of that reality found a cybernetic tomb of the Shiro and attempted to rouse him before becoming surrounded by an army of drones, his fevered cries eventually activating his cyborg lover.

But their spirits felt familiar either way. One by one, the endless streams of realities mended until it was down to his and Keith’s, down to the source of all the pain and misery. Shiro’s eyes welled as the Space Goddess’s screams filled his ears. 

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Shiro said through clenched teeth. “But you had no right to hurt Keith and myself the way you did. You had no right to tear so many versions of us apart.” 

Honerva sent forth another surge of power, and he gasped, his heart about to give out, until the energy passed completely through his hand and into the Space Goddess. A final scream reverberated in his ears and then—

Panting, kneeling down, Shiro looked about himself. 

“We will not be punished for this?” Shiro asked and finally turned back to regard Honerva. His eyes widened when he finally glimpsed her. 

She had changed. Time spent keeping the realities afloat must have done something to her. Her eyes shown with deep remorse and regret, but there was also wisdom that sat in her somber eyes. Her long cloak was reminiscent of the Space Goddess’s, but her face was wrinkled, more so than Shiro remembered.

An ancient woman. A wise woman. This is what the universe needed. 

She regarded Shiro for a moment and smiled. “Go to him, Champion.” 

Shiro nodded, bowed in respect, and stood up. Keith lay, wrapped in something like leaves and vines. Once he approached, the faint green light dispersed. 

“Keith, let’s go back home,” Shiro said gently as he collected him in his arms. He walked past Honerva who studied them. 

“You will not be apart in the next lifetime, nor in the one after,” she said. “I cannot promise you will not suffer. Such is life, but your bond has always run so deep that I envied it.” She smiled at him. 

Shiro smiled back and nodded again. He kissed Keith’s brow before getting into the Black Lion.

⁂

“You did it?!” Lance screamed when Shiro appeared back in the bedroom. Allura was busy keeping the body alive, just as she had promised. Everyone was still around Keith’s body. Krolia was finally starting to cry, although the tears were minimal. Shiro wondered if it was denial or hope, or if there was a more hopeful future she had seen on the space-whale.

Everyone stood up, startled and amazed when Shiro walked in, Keith’s spirit glimmering red in his arms. Shiro regarded Allura and broke down. 

“Please,” he begged. 

Wordlessly, she nodded. Leaving Keith’s side for a moment, she approached him and placed her hand over the spirit until the spirit disappeared and Allura’s body glowed red and her eyes flashed. Smiling reassuringly to Shiro, she led them back to Keith’s side as everyone made way for them. 

The rest of the room fell silent as everyone watched, anxious and tentatively hopeful. 

Allura performed the ritual as Shiro settled by Keith’s side. He placed one hand under Keith’s head while the other rested over his heart— _just like how Keith held onto me when I was revived._

Shiro smiled sadly. Suddenly he felt his own quintessence begin to course through him again. He watched as it flowed into Keith, but he didn’t pull away. They were soulmates. They were meant to share souls, meant to share each other’s quintessence. This, he realized, was all part of the healing process. 

_Live, Keith. Be cured just as I was. And live._

A gasp filled the quiet room as Keith’s eyes flew open, panting and coughing and taking in deep, shuddering breaths. Coran yelped. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge cheered. Krolia smiled and this time cried for real. Cheers and cries of celebration filled the room. 

“Shiro?” 

Shiro collected Keith into his arms and kissed him. Allura watched them, her eyes glimmering with joy. Success. 

“He’s cured,” she said as she wiped a tear away. “Back to full health. He’s…back. You’re back with us, Keith.” 

Keith glanced about him, confused, then frightened. “But, the deal—” 

“You don’t have to worry about the Space Goddess,” Shiro said. “We had a little discussion after your passing. It’s all right now.” 

He smiled at the most selfless and noble man he’s ever known, unable to stop himself from kissing Keith again and again. “I would do this as many times as it takes. No one will pull us apart.” 

“Shiro!” Keith gasped as he broke down. Shiro held him tightly, never wanting to let go, as Keith wept. 

He kissed the top of his head. “You had me scared for a moment there. But it’s all fine now. Our lifetimes are fixed. We will walk between worlds again. Our other selves in other realities are all mended.” 

“You did all that while I was dead?” 

Shiro beamed. “Of course. Now…our own wedding…” 

Shiro kissed Keith again—goodness, he couldn’t stop kissing Keith! They had several lifetimes, and lord knows how many realities, to make up for. Smiling at his beloved husband, Shiro gave Keith a little squeeze as he motioned everyone back towards the wedding reception. 

“Let’s try this again, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Artwork is by the amazingly talented [Ana, aka BlackxPaladins](https://twitter.com/blackxpaladins/status/1142576763610030080)!


End file.
